Westbrook has had to put a lien on the home of the city’s finance director, who owes almost $6,000 in unpaid taxes.

Sue Rossignol, the finance director and a resident of Conant Street, said she purposely has not been paying taxes on her property for the past year and a half because she’s in a legal battle with the son of the property’s previous owner.

“I have nothing to hide,” she said last week.

Rossignol said she purchased two adjacent empty lots on Conant Street from Alfred Porell in 2004. However, she said, the title for one of those lots wasn’t put in her name, but left in Porell’s. Though she was working with the title company and Porell to fix the problem, he died in 2007, and the property was inherited by his son, Ernest Porell.

According to Rossignol, Ernest Porell, who lives across the street from her, is suing her to move the house she built on one lot because it is blocking the view from his – and is refusing to sign over the title before she does. Until that suit is resolved, she said, she will not pay her taxes.

Porell said he did not want to comment on the suit until it is resolved.

“It’s been a long battle,” Rossignol said, adding that there was a failed attempt to mediate the issue last week and the case will likely go to court by the end of the year.

A lien has been placed on the property by the city, but Rossignol said, “I can assure they will not foreclose.” The house is assessed at $244,000.

According to City Administrator Jerre Bryant, Rossignol’s unpaid taxes are being dealt with in the same way they would be for any taxpayer in the city.

“Whether it’s the finance director of the city or the mayor or the city councilors, everyone at some time has problems in their life,” Rossignol said.

The city has placed a lien on the Conant Street home of its finance director, Sue Rossignol, who said she will pay the nearly $6,000 in taxes she owes to the city when a suit between her and her neighbor is resolved.