Melissa Bailey Photo
New Haven’s embattled tax assessor has found another city to take him in.
New Haven Tax Assessor Bill O’Brien (pictured) is set to start work Dec. 12 as the assistant tax assessor for Norwalk, according to Michael Stewart, the city’s tax assessor of six years.
O’Brien’s departure was announced last Wednesday, the day after the mayoral election.
The job holds a salary of $87,631 to $103,578. O’Brien made $105,000 as the chief assessor in New Haven.
Stewart said O’Brien was among the candidates who responded when the job was posted on the Norwalk city website. “Based on the candidates that we had respond, he met the qualifications and he had the most experience and the broadest knowledge,” Stewart said.
During O’Brien’s tenure in New Haven, the mayor ordered top tax officials to investigate complaints made at public hearings and in a series of newspaper articles, ranging from arbitrarily inflated $5,000 assessments of artist studios and lost paperwork in the assessors office, from botched seniors’ tax bills and rising assessments on on old used cars to a complete collapse of any transparent or informed conduct by the Board of Assessment Appeals.
“I am aware” of some of the controversies O’Brien created in New Haven, Stewart said Monday.
Like all new employees, O’Brien will go through a six-month probation, “during which we expect him to comport himself,” he said.
“He has the qualifications, and he’s fully aware of what our expectations are as far as customer service,” Stewart said.