On Wednesday evening, March 13, Wilton’s Board of Finance met with the Board of Selectmen to review the town’s proposed FY 2025 budget, the first one prepared under First Selectman Toni Boucher.
Boucher’s proposed FY’25 budget adopted by the Board of Selectmen last week is $35,876,501, reflecting a 4.07% increase over FY 2024.
Boucher gave an opening statement to the BOF outlining her priorities and an assessment of the state of the town’s budgetary needs before handing the detailed presentation to Town Administrator Matt Knicerbocker. But as the discussion went on with BOF members, it became clear how complex the issues are that the town will have to confront this year.
Boucher began her presentation by describing what she called the “difficult budget circumstances” the town is facing this year, noting, “This is not a pretty picture.”
“Some call it the perfect storm with some pretty strong headwinds,” she said. “A property revaluation that is averaging around 28% increases in home values, $100 million of deferred building maintenance, and a rating agency that are getting very tough with all towns requiring them to set aside 25-35% of the reserves instead of 10%. This is money that oftentimes in the past we use to help to lower the tax hike here in Wilton.”
More precisely, Boucher was referencing the recent five-year property revaluation conducted for the Oct. 1, 2023 Grand List, which (before final appeals are heard in April) has preliminarily increased overall by 28.7% since 2022. Based on information put together by Board of Finance Chair Matt Raimondi, the average Wilton residential valuation increase was actually 35.7%.
Both boards acknowledged that while both residential and commercial property values increased, residential properties increased more, making the taxpaying burden “lopsided” as BOF Vice Chair Stewart Koenigsberg called it.
Exactly how the revaluation will factor into mill rate calculations and potential tax implications was discussed in further detail at Thursday’s (March 14) Board of Finance meeting. [Raimondi prepared a detailed presentation in advance of that discussion, which he has made available online. GOOD Morning Wilton will report on that presentation and ensuing discussion in a separate story.]
Boucher touched on the process town employees and BOS members went through to bring the budget proposal in at a 4.07% increase — from what had first started at a 7.12% increase. After asking department heads to go back and make reductions (to the tune of $525,000), and responding to almost 200 questions from BOS members suggesting areas to find savings, town officials took more steps:
- applying $150,000 from the town’s blight fund to cover capital funds for the Department of Public Works building renovation account (a reduction from $250,000 to $65,000)
- eliminating $20,000 allocated to Trackside Teen Center (something Boucher had tried to reintroduce this year after her predecessor Lynne Vanderslice had worked for years to remove the organization completely from town support)
- reserving $50,000 from the Parks and Rec rebate fund
- saving $97,000 by reducing the state partnership medical insurance contribution from a projected 5% to the notified 2% rate.
Space and Maintenance Needs, Improving Services for Residents and Other Upgrades
The town and school building maintenance and space needs assessments recently completed by the town has been a recurring theme in municipal meetings since last fall. In her intial pitch to the BOF on Wednesday evening, Boucher reinforced her interest in prioritizing upgrades to Town facilities’ conditions and utilizing space better, improving municipal services and increasing staffing in her budget
“Our recent building needs assessment report showed that the ongoing costs of addressing deferred maintenance and space needs for the town of school buildings and repairs still are prominent and exist,” she said.
Knickerbocker explained that town finance officials will eventually see a full report and presentation from town engineering and facilities staff on how to manage the longer-term multi-year facilities improvement expenses, estimated to run as high as $150 million. But for the time being he separated out immediate costs included in the current budget, for items that are “critical to repair… right away.”
- On the town side, $210,000 has been allocated in the current budget for immediate town building needs
- There are $250,000 in immediate building needs for the school side not currently covered in the town’s $1,244,353 capital expenditure needs
- Neither the school’s immediate needs nor the budgeted capital expenses on the town side are bondable
“So when you add those together, it’s a real budget buster,” Knickerbocker said. “So we have to look at the infrastructure fund, the Blight fund, maybe some other areas too to try to cobble that together to start addressing those immediate needs.”
Knickerbocker proposed creating a separate school maintenance account to address long-term capital needs for the schools, such as roof warranties, technology needs and service contracts. This would be jointly managed by the town and school district, but funded on the town side. Raimondi said that the Board of Finance had discussed the concept in January.
“We were unanimous in that we think it’s a great idea in terms of helping to make sure we manage the infrastructure improvements in the future. So … you have our full support and endorsement, and we’re happy to help you think through it,” Raimondi said.
Boucher also said that between town and school officials, there needs to be better delineation over which side pays for what costs moving forward, adding, “There’s a line there at some point and we’ve been talking about how to put that in writing so that it’s more clear.”
“You have to really distinguish between what is maintenance or repair versus upgrading and enhancements, and really differentiate what is in the school’s purview should they want to beautify or make better or enhance the property. And that’s where there’s a lot of debate and discussion around that,” she said, adding that both BOE and BOS budgets should include “some of the normal everyday maintenance and repairs.”
Officials also discussed creating a “building needs committee” to comprehensively review the estimated $100-$150 million needed for facility repairs and renovations across town buildings and schools, to consider when it would be financially wise to take advantage of low municipal borrowing rates and strategically plan long-term capital investment through bonding — something Boucher said would need bond counsel’s involvement.
Another budgetary priority for Boucher is modernizing the town’s “outdated technology systems,” as assessed by “professional IT consultants… [who] report there is a critical need for complete restructuring of the Information Technology Department to reduce costs and improve online services as well as post some very serious security gaps in our system.
Staffing Needs and Issues
Boucher and Knickerbocker both commented on items related to personnel built into the FY 2025 proposed BOS budget.
First Boucher spoke about public safety: “We must provide our department of public safety and first responders with adequate resources to respond to emergencies and protect the community. We’re now eight officers away from full staff and as we get closer to filling this gap, the overtime costs that you’ve seen that many have mentioned. They’ve escalated should return to normal next year. That’s our hope.”
She also referenced the Town’s Parks and Recreation Department. “We also provide assistance to those in need and the recreational and cultural activities that residents deserve while staying within budget. An area of costs for Parks and Recreation have been the dial RIDE program that added an additional cost for a special needs resident that requires an additional driver,” she said.
Boucher mentioned additional personnel-associated costs resulting from state mandates, including those related to early voting (more part-time poll workers) and training for CERT and firefighters.
Later, Knickerbocker explained that the budget accounts for annual contracted labor increases, that he said are “well controlled, within or below the rate of inflation,” adding that the town has negotiated well. (He noted that negotiations with the police and dispatch employees will begin within the month for FY 2026 and any changes in that contract are not included in this year’s budget.)
One notable personnel change seen in the budget is in the town’s Finance Department. After the departure of an employee that had been shared 50/50 with the Board of Education, the town and the school have opted to each replace the half-time position with a full-time employee to cover increased workloads on each side. “So what was one position is now is now two,” Knickerbocker said. He later added that the jobshare option wasn’t working out for either the town or the schools — “neither side was happy with the results.”
Boucher suggested that town officials may want to re-examine other places in personnel where two jobs have been merged into one — for example with the tax collector and assessor combination, or with the town and schools sharing the same CFO. Both of those changes were made during her predecessor’s administration.
“Maybe it’s a good time to assess it. See how it works or if it doesn’t. Have we lost good people as a result of burdening them with too much that is expected that is not expected in any other town that gives a much better working environment to function in. Does that overburdening an individual [lead to] some inaccuracies or something that could go wrong? Do we have to hire outside consultants to fill in the gap because they are so overburdened? It’s worth a future conversation for all of us to assess that. It does concern me a bit,” Boucher said.
When BOF member Sandy Arkell said she agreed with Boucher, particularly with regard to the town and school sharing just one CFO, Boucher said that CFO Dawn Norton often works on weekends or until 9 or 10 p.m. on weeknights.
“That takes a great deal of tolerance and patience for an individual. We might not be able to be so lucky in the future,” Boucher added.
Knickerbocker also provided details on insurance matters reflected in the budget.
- The town has been seeing a significant improvement in worker’s comp claims, something he hoped was a “direct result of the more aggressive risk management programs that we put in place.” Raimondi suggested looking at that line item as a place for an additional reductions of $100,000, given that it had been budgeted at a flat $400,000 from FY 2024 to FY 2025 but actual claims were projected to come under budget by 50%.
- However, the town has increased its liability and property insurance coverage after a new broker did a full review and discovered the town was underinsured or not insured “in some very, very key areas that could be very, very expensive for the town,” including in-ground fuel tanks, dams and more.
Knickerbocker said that pension contributions have increased by more than $87,000 even though the pension if fully funded. The reason is that the town has gone from 173 to 153 active employees but increased the number of retirees supported by the pension from 287 to 301, so the town has to keep the funding “healthy.”
Finally, Boucher said that town officials have made some shifts at the Town Hall Annex building to improve access and service for residents and others engaging with the building and health departments and land use officials located there.
After some resident complaints about difficulty finding the Annex entrance and sometimes finding no town employee available to help them, officials relocated a new entrance area near the front of the building. The new entrance area features an open space, counter, and signage to greet residents as they enter, which Boucher said would provide a more accessible and customer-friendly experience compared to the previous setup. The town upgraded a part-time position to full time to ensure staff will now be available during all business hours to assist the public.
Boucher linked town staffing needs to new development — i.e. new multifamily housing — which she said will come “with an expected increase in demand for essential services … [and] there may also be some possible staffing needs in our future.”
Future meetings
- The Board of Finance met Thursday, March 14 to discuss budget issues. GOOD Morning Wilton will have a separate report on that meeting.
- The Board of Finance will hold a public hearing on the Board of Selectmen budget on Monday, March 18 at Middlebrook Auditorium at 7 p.m.
- The Board of Finance will hold a public hearing on the Board of Education budget on Wednesday, March 20 at Middlebrook Auditorium at 7 p.m.
- The Annual Town Meeting to vote on the proposed budget is Tuesday, May 7 with continued voting on Saturday, May 11.
Editor’s note: The story has been updated to better clarify that BOF member Sandy Arkell agreed with First Selectman Toni Boucher that the CFO position currently shared between Wilton town and schools should be split into two separate roles. While the original article said that Arkell agreed, it was updated to better specify that Arkell agreed with Boucher’s statement about the CFO role.