The Board of Finance meeting Monday, Mar. 9, was marked by confusion, missing financial information and questions to Wilton’s CFO, First Selectman and Board of Selectmen that have gone unanswered — all compounded by disruptive audio from a separate Zoom meeting that repeatedly interrupted the discussion.
In addition to the intrusive audio, the meeting featured a disappointing lack of firm financial information, confusion over how some data could even be obtained, an absent interim CFO, minor disputes over process between BOF members and Chief Financial Officer Dawn Savo, and occasional interjections from First Selectman Toni Boucher who wasn’t seated at the table.
Waiting, with Growing Frustration
According to BOF Chair Tim Birch, his board is still waiting to get answers to a range of questions about the budget that it posed to the BOS 10 days ago, but none have been forthcoming.
“We had given a series of questions to you and Toni and the board 10 days ago. We’re still waiting on those,” Birch told Savo.
Further, there was no clear explanation of why interim CFO Joseph Centofanti, the highly paid consultant who for months has been supposedly reconciling past accounts for the town for FY 2025, has not appeared before the BOF to answer questions despite repeated requests from that he do so — and that appeared to test Birch’s patience even more.
After Savo said Centofanti believed the meeting he had been asked to attend was scheduled for Mar. 10, Birch pushed back on that explanation, stating he had personally messaged Centofanti that the meeting was on Mar. 9. When asked whether Centofanti intended to attend the Mar. 10 meeting, Savo, said he did not.
In a brief exchange with BOF member Kim Healy about whether Centofanti might attend another meeting, Birch said the board had made multiple requests and was still waiting for Centofanti to provide dates he was available. Though typically measured in tone, Birch’s responses suggested increasing frustration that the requests had yet to result in an appearance.
Questions Remain on Charter Reserve Dump Truck Request
The BOF also heard the official request from the BOS about granting them $330,000 from the town’s Charter Reserve fund to cover the cost of purchasing a DPW dump truck and accoutrements, but the BOF did not take action. Instead, BOF members wanted to know more details, including why the money was even needed if the truck apparently had already been purchased.
The BOS had held a special meeting on Friday, Mar. 6 to collectively agree to make the request of the BOF. The idea had been to fund the purchase of a dump truck and related sanding and plowing equipment in this current year as a capital expense instead of bonding for the purchase as had been approved during last year’s budget process for the current fiscal year (FY 2026). The move would effectively shift how the expense is accounted for in this year’s town’s budget — and pay for a truck the way the town has typically always done.
During that BOS meeting, Selectman Matt Raimondi, who came up with the idea, said that some members of the BOF had told him they would support the move, as some officials had not been happy that the BOS chose to bond for the item last year.
“The intention here is that that was a mistake and we are fixing that,” he said.
At Monday evening’s BOF meeting, members noted that while the $330,000 bond was approved by the Annual Town Meeting last May, it never went to bond market. In practice, Raimondi explained, towns sometimes purchase equipment first using available cash and then issue bonds afterward to reimburse the expense. The approach is used to avoid running afoul of federal and state arbitrage rules that prohibit municipalities from profiting off borrowed funds.
Nonetheless, Healy said she found records that show the town already had purchased the truck for $302,000, though she was unsure of the sanders and plows.
That raised more questions for the BOF members.
“If we already purchased the truck, why do we need more money?” BOF member Prasad Iyer asked.
BOF members said they wanted a clearer accounting before considering the request, including documentation showing what equipment had already been purchased, what remains to be bought, and how the purchases would be allocated across fiscal years.
Members also asked for a broader overview of the town’s truck replacement plan and associated equipment purchases.
“We want to understand what’s being purchased, what was purchased, what fiscal years, and then what’s going to be purchased this year,” Birch said.
Members noted that the proposed FY 2027 BOS budget currently does not include a truck purchase request for next year, even though it has been described as an ongoing annual need.
It was one of several pieces of information missing from the budget document that had been provided to the BOF just before the start of the meeting.
“It needs to be adjusted,” Raimondi said of the budget document.
More Questions Remain
Likewise, the BOF wants more details on various funds in play. Savo described how some of them have been reconciled by Centofanti, but others have not, so questions remain.
“Can we get an inventory of all the reserve funds that are out there, because I don’t think that we’re clear on where they are,” Birch said.
Savo said, unfortunately, that with details still outstanding for FY 2025, she didn’t feel she could provide all the information they want. Further, she said, in order to draw conclusions about the new budget, BOF members were going to have to draw on some of their past experiences with town budgets and make some assumptions.
“I understand it’s not ideal [but] the timing is just not going to be there for 100% clarity and so the board is going to — because you have so much familiarity, much more than me, with past budgets and town hall relations — you’re really going to have to draw upon some of that for some of your decisions,” Savo said.
With Centofanti focused on closing the books on FY 2025 to prepare the town for its annual audit, Savo said that Centofanti still claims that he will finish his work by the end of March, and explained that if the town is able to act quickly and provide prompt detail to the auditors, they may be able to complete the annual audit by June 1, “if the town is extremely responsive,” Savo said.
The BOF also spent time trying to piece together the town’s web of reserve and capital funds and how those accounts factor into bonding decisions and, ultimately, setting the mill rate.
Savo said money for capital projects is currently spread across several different funds, making it difficult to get a clear picture of the town’s financial position. She noted that the proposed Nonrecurring Capital Fund — scheduled for a vote at the Annual Town Meeting in May — is intended to centralize those funds and simplify the system.
“Right now it’s kind of in a lot of different pots and it’s hard to get a handle on the whole picture,” Savo said. “It seems like it’s all there but it’s just hard finding where it is.”
Presentation Matters
The discussion turned somewhat tense as Savo and BOF members disagreed on how financial details were presented in the budget documents, with board members noting they had asked for some information to be broken out by department and Savo defending the format she used.
“That’s okay for your purposes to have it one way, but we would like to see it by department,” BOF Vice Chair Rudy Escalante said.
Healy said the current presentation made it difficult to see the full cost of individual departments and noted that the Board of Education breaks out those expenses differently.
Savo defended her choice in the breakdown and said that doing it the way the board wanted would take her several days to revise.
“To redo these books is not an easy task,” she said. “It’s all in Excel spreadsheets. Everything would have to be relinked. I could do it, it’s just going to take many days to do it because I’m the only one doing it.”
“I know it’s different than what you’re used to [but] I thought I had some leeway with that,” Savo said.
BOF acknowledged her explanation, but reiterated that they wanted to get the materials presented by department, and in a way that is already being done by the BOE.
Board of Education — the Polar Opposite
Ironically, just a few quick minutes were spent on an earlier agenda item to review and discuss questions related to the Board of Education budget, which has proven to be the polar opposite of the challenged BOS budget.
“I want to compliment them for coming in at guidance again, two years in a row,” Escalante declared, with the BOE’s adopted budget of $100,459,485 representing a 3.6% increase over its current operating budget — exactly hitting the mark of the recommended increase the BOF had proposed.
The only question about the school budget — other than those the BOF had submitted in writing to the BOE and had received answers to — came from Healy, who asked why school officials were planning to hire another position in their finance office.
“They want to add somebody — and I don’t think it’s a full-time person — in finance,” Healy said. “They just gained, though, a full CFO, so I think it’s something we might want to just get some more information on, why they feel the need … At the end of the day they’ll have almost the same amount of finance staff that the town does.”
BOF member Eric Fanwick pointed out, “Yeah, but they have twice the budget the town does.”
Healy, noted, however, that they don’t have as many responsibilities to contend with as the town’s Finance Department does.
The Board of Finance meets again tonight, Tuesday, Mar. 10, at 7 p.m., in person at Comstock Community Center and on Zoom. The agenda is available online.