A Connecticut panel will soon begin to look at the age-old dispute over the border the state shares with Rhode Island.
In rushing to wrap up the state budget process, Connecticut legislators included a measure on Aug. 16 to form a seven-member commission to examine the boundary extending from the mouth of the Ashaway River to the Massachusetts line.
Last month, the Rhode Island General Assembly approved legislation to create a nine-member panel to perform a similar task. State leaders hope to appoint members to that body in the coming weeks.
The two commissions will study the boundary independently and then come together to reach an agreement on a set line, said Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy, D-Hopkinton, a sponsor of the Rhode Island border bill.
The joint-state agreement would be executed by the attorneys general in both states, said Michael Healey, spokesman for the Rhode Island attorney general's office. The Rhode Island and Connecticut legislatures would then consider the agreement for ratification, he said.
The terms would not be binding until they are ratified by both states.
Neither states' legislation specifies how the panels should accomplish their work or interact.
"My hope and expectation is that the two commissions will work closely and cooperatively on issues relating to the border," said Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal.
Members will be appointed to the Connecticut panel within 30 days, Blumenthal said, adding that he expected the groups to employ modern technology and "Yankee common sense."
The Rhode Island Senate and House plan to make their appointments by the end of next week.
"My hope is we'll get going as soon as possible," said Kennedy, who will serve on the Rhode Island panel.
The two groups will decide how they will interact, said James Lee, chief of the Rhode Island attorney general's criminal division.
The dual bills arose from a conflict between Hopkinton and North Stonington, Conn. In conducting its property revaluation, North Stonington used digital mapping that shaved about 22 acres off Hopkinton's tax rolls.
The revaluation was based on a border established in 1840 that called for nine stone markers between the Pawcatuck River and the Massachusetts line. It was the last agreed upon line between the two states.
Over the years, other markers were placed along the 65-mile stretch, not always in line with the original markers. Those markers often became the accepted, if not legal, line.
World War II interrupted the last attempt to clarify the boundary by a joint commission in 1941.
The North Stoninton map sliced a straight boundary line. It did not account for the intermediary markers, trimming about $14,000 in property tax revenue from about 49 properties in Hopkinton.
Blumenthal said he hopes the Connecticut commission will have its work complete for the next legislative session, beginning in January.
"We're looking forward to resolving this amicably," Blumenthal said.
There is no set time frame for the Rhode Island panel to accomplish its work, though talks have been ongoing between the attorneys general's offices.
"If it takes more time, it's better we get it right," Lee said.
Kennedy, meanwhile, said he hopes the Rhode Island commission will have its work well under way by early next year. He said it is imperative as the issue could hold up property sales along the disputed line. North Stonington has also mailed out tax bills reflecting its recent revaluation; Hopkinton leaders have instructed those landowners not to pay those bills until the matter is settled.
"We can't allow this to drag on another year," Kennedy said.
