Nine Year Delay in Notification of Debt

In 2007 I received notification from a debt collector that the City of Danbury CT has engaged a debt collector to collect a vehicle property tax from 1998. The debt was cited as $198 for vehicle taxes and $450 in penalties interest.

I moved out of Danbury in November 1998 to my present Virginia address - their vehicle tax year began October 1. I received no notification or bill - Danbury says that was because the normal bill sent the following July 1999 was returned after forwarding mail was stopped. I left my forwarding address with various city agencies - I have not been hard to find.

I registered my cars in Virginia in 1999. As nine years had passed, Virginia DMV did not have my registration records readily available; they would have to be retrieved from archives for which I would have to pay. I disposed of the two cars in 2000 and 2002

I opted to pay the $198 for a full year as a settlement - I paid in 2007 to the bill collector and heard nothing more.

After a three year communication hiatus, Danbury has engaged another bill collector acknowledging my payment but saying I still owe money.

I have written the Danbury Tax Collector, Tax Assessor, and Mayor to no avail. They say the debt is valid whether they notified me or not.

Can you point me to an approach to deal with this - I do not intend to pay a penalty/interest for something the City of Danbury delayed nine years to try and collect and continues to accrue.