You asked if Connecticut towns could impose term limits on municipal officials.

The Office of Legislative Research is not authorized to issue legal opinions and this memorandum should not be considered as one.

State law is silent on the subject of term limits for municipal elected officials. It neither imposes a ban on enacting term limits; nor does it expressly authorize towns to do so.

A letter written by Attorney Mary S. Young of the Office of Legal Services in the Office of the Secretary of the State states:

This Office is aware of no provision in the Constitution or the General Statutes which would prohibit a charter from limiting the number of consecutive terms a person may serve in the office of first selectman. There is no Connecticut Supreme Court case exactly on point.... However, please see the enclosed article questioning the power of a home rule charter to make any provision which is not specifically authorized in the General Statutes. Hollister, The Myth and Reality of Home Rule Powers in Connecticut, 59 Conn. B.J. 389 (1985).

The above mentioned article (copy enclosed) makes the point that, despite home rule authority granted in the state's Constitution and statutes, the Connecticut Supreme Court has held that the General Assembly, by its specific enumeration in the statutes of the powers delegated to municipalities, has implied that town cannot exercise powers not expressly delegated to them. In Simons v. Canty (195 Conn. 524 (1985)), the Court ruled that towns are not empowered to enact provisions allowing the recall of their elected officials. The article points out, on the other hand, that the Court has upheld a local charter provision, even in the face of a conflicting state statute, in Caulfield v. Noble (178 Conn. 81 (1979)). In that New Canaan case, the Court upheld a local charter provision on the ground that the Home Rule Act authorizes the delegation of the power to address issues of local concern, exclusive of the provisions of the General Statutes.

MJ:ts