In a sparsely attended public hearing Monday night, March 18, First Selectman Toni Boucher officially presented her FY 2025 budget to the town, while Board of Finance Chair Matthew Raimondi warned of a possible 11.6% average tax increase.
Of the only five or six people who came out to the Middlebrook School auditorium to witness the meeting in person, four — all of whom were former town officials — shared comments. And while more were viewing the live broadcast online, none of those watching from afar shared a comment with either board.
In his opening presentation, Raimondi made it clear that substantial tax increases — on average, 11.6% per Wilton homeowner — would follow acceptance of the budgets as presented by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education. This, he explained, was primarily due to the revaluation that just took place, which has placed a greater tax burden on Wilton’s residential property owners.
Boucher presented a $35,876,501 budget, which represents a 4.07% increase over the current $34.5-million town-side operating budget.
Boucher called her proposed budget a “sound document.”
She outlined various priorities in play, including the completion of the new police station and the upgrading of cybersecurity within the town offices. Likewise, she referenced some key upcoming expense items, including some new part-time staff positions she indicated are required by the state, and the large looming school and town facility maintenance issues that are estimated to run over $100 million over the next 10 years.
On Wednesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. also at Middlebrook, the Board of Education will be presenting a $93,538,159 budget that represents a 4.88% increase over the current $89.2 million budget.
“Based on the requested budgets and the change in the Grand List, the average residential property tax increase would be 11.6%,” Raimondi said. “This is the average. Your actual taxes will depend on how much your assessment has changed.”
In his presentation, he outlined some details based on the recent revaluation, which has seen a substantial increase in residential property value, but relatively lower commercial growth.
“Before this revaluation residents used to pay 73% of the annual tax budget,” he said. “Because of the revaluation we now pay 77%.”
At the same time, the share of commercial tax has dropped from 15% to 13%.
Raimondi pointed out that, even if the total town budget for fiscal 2025 were to stay flat, it would still require an average tax increase of 5.5% among residents.
Based on the budget requests, which would more than double that increase, he said residents with homes valued between $750,000 and $1 million would see an increase of about $1,600 in taxes annually. Residents with homes valued between $1 million and $1.25 million would see a $2,400 increase, and those between $1.25 million and $1.5 million would see a $3,100 increase.
Those with homes valued less than $500,000 would see a $300 increase on average, while those valued between $500,000 and $750,000 would see an increase of $700.
On the heels of this, Raimondi pointed out the importance of residents offering their input — through the BOF survey, via emails to the BOF, or at public hearings and BOF meetings.
“It is incredibly important that we hear from each and every one of you,” he said.
“This is your money,” he said. “It’s your taxes … The Board of Finance will reflect on the feedback you give us.”
The first of the four people in attendance who shared comments at the hearing was Warren Serenbetz, a former BOF chair.
“The bottom line is … where my taxes stand, where they’ll be going based on the presentation that you gave, up at the 11.4% level, is just out of the range of what’s reasonable,” he said. “At 6% I might say, ‘Okay, one year, y’know. Let it ride,’ but when it’s going to be 11.4 or worse for some people, I just think it’s way too much.”
Paul Hannah, a former BOF chair and former first selectman, told the officials that, based on research he had done, it might not be practical for the town to make the concessions necessary to maintain its Aaa rating by meeting Moody’s new requirements.
According to Raimondi’s presentation, “Wilton will need to build larger available fund balances over the next few years,” in order to maintain its Triple-A rating. “This is reflected in the proposed budget as we budgeted to retain excess FY 2023 budget surpluses and possible FY 2024 budget surpluses, rather than using them to reduce the taxpayers’ share of the FY 2025 budget.”
Hannah said the BOF should inquire directly with Moody’s to have them justify this change. “You should do this just as aggressively as you challenge the Boards of Selectmen and Education,” he said, regarding their budgets.
“Is maintaining the Triple-A the right decision when we pay so dearly for it?” Hannah asked.
Deborah McFadden, a former selectwoman, detailed thoughts on various items, including a push to pursue more sustainability initiatives, as well as aggressively going after more grant money.
“Sometimes it’s who gets to the pot of money fastest with the shovel-ready projects,” she said.
Although she admitted she hadn’t yet looked at this year’s BOF survey, she said she found fault with last year’s survey, calling it “leading” in its questions, and suggested having all three major boards produce budget surveys, as they once jointly had done.
McFadden also put in a plug for the Wilton Volunteer Ambulance Corps, which has reported experiencing struggles with town officials over its once-and-future base.
“I’m curious as to what the town is doing to help them with their facility because they do have facility issues,” she said.
Former BOF chair Jeff Rutishauser shared about the importance of expanded sewer capacity to augment development and suggested the town should maintain good salaries for the police chief and deputy chief positions so that officers won’t choose lucrative overtime opportunities over advancing through the ranks.
Boucher spoke to the impact that development would have as one of several factors impacting budget development, specifically referring to it in her presentation.
“There’s a lot going on in town and that is certainly going to require more town services,” she said.
I’m sure that the BOF – or at least 2/3 of it – will choose to interpret this differently, but to me, “sparsely attended” suggests that a whole lot of people out there have read about these potential tax increases – or heard about them through Mr. Raimondi’s aggressive PR campaign – and are totally OK with them.
If we go from crickets now to loud protests when the BOF votes to cut the school budget anyway – as I strongly suspect will be the case – then that’s a pretty clear signal of what the public wants.
“Sparsely attended” does not mean ok or lack of interest. I think most people expect an increase in taxes but something north of 10% does exceed expectations. Personally, I would like to see the increase kept to the 5% range, except for the very expensive homes, which should still not exceed 10%.