Former Alna treasurer Aaron Miller has paid the town $800, ending the board’s efforts to recoup losses in tax penalties, selectmen said Nov. 2. Third Selectman Doug Baston described the payment as a settlement for the approximately $2,000 the town was fined for payroll tax payment errors dating to Miller’s service as treasurer.

First Selectman David Abbott said he was glad the matter’s been resolved. Baston was, too, adding, he wished it had never happened.

Miller did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. He was treasurer from March 2014 to April 2015. He resigned after the board turned down his request for help learning how to make payroll tax payments. Miller later offered to help with the board’s questions over record-keeping that selectmen said also dated to Miller’s time in office. The board hired accountant Bill Brewer to amend payroll filings and address record-keeping errors.

Selectmen said they made their proposal to Miller on the advice of attorney Paul Gibbons. Asked what the $800 was based on, Baston said state law has a $100 fine the town could have pursued for each error, and eight errors were identified. Miller’s payment, received Oct. 5, avoided a court filing and the costs that would have incurred, town officials said.

Starting next March, selectmen will appoint the treasurer. They said it would help ensure the person is qualified. In March, voters made departing town clerk Amy Warner treasurer and changed the job from elected to appointed, effective next year.

Also Nov. 2, selectmen worked out a policy they said they have never needed until now, for a position they never wanted to be in: figuring out what to do with tax-acquired properties that have homes still being lived in. Selectmen said statute dictated taking the Rabbit Path Road and Hollywood Boulevard properties after three years of unpaid taxes; but after that, the board has discretion, Baston said.

He said one option was to let the former owners live there while on a payment plan. “I don’t really want to get into that business,” he said. “I don’t want to be a landlord and be nagging people for payments.”

“It seems more complicated than we would want to get into,” Abbott said.

Or the board could seek to sell the properties immediately, which would be “hard-nosed,” Baston said.

The board favored a third option, granting 90 days to pay the tax debts before the town advertises the lots for sale. The town took over ownership in July through foreclosure. Baston said.

In other business, selectmen decided to start pricing a town-wide revaluation. They have been considering asking voters for one at the March 2017 town meeting and board members said the figures on some sales of high-end homes in town back up the argument for one. One sold for $134,000 more than its assessed value, Baston said.

Head Tide Dam Committee member and Second Selectman Melissa Spinney said the committee wants to meet with the board soon about a proposed design to replace an abutment and help fish pass. Spinney said members have been working very well together, and are favoring the option that would connect the new abutment’s vertical wall directly to the spillway. Discussing the option with the panel in September, engineer Michael Burke of Interfluve said the spillway would lose an approximately 30-inch seam. That would make more sense structurally and would look better than leaving the seam, Burke said.

The board meets next at 6 p.m. Nov. 16 at the town office.