New Board of Finance Starts Looking Ahead — and Planning for the Multi-Year $100 Million+ School Maintenance Costs

New Board of Finance Chair Matt Raimondi stressed that communicating with the public will be a key priority for his board this year, as well as fostering differing opinions among its members.

With three newly elected members at the table — Timothy Birch, Rudy Escalante and Prasad Iyer — the six-member BOF held its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night, Dec. 12. Along with completing some housekeeping tasks, including unanimously selecting Stewart Koenigsberg to remain as vice chair and naming Iyer as the board’s new clerk, it held some preliminary discussion about the expected $132-million school building maintenance cost facing Wilton over the next decade or so.

Editor’s note: Town officials referenced the $132 million overall amount that has been estimated as part of the conversation around school building needs assessment costs that Wilton is facing. Until now, much of the public discussion has used $100 million-plus as the figure. The difference is the estimated amount officials forecast the state will reimburse (in the range of $26.7 million) as well as costs expected to be covered in operating budgets ($4-$4.5 million).

“I think the long-term planning here will be critically important … Realistically it’s going be 15 or 20 years,” Raimondi said.

He spoke in favor of creating a school municipal improvement fund, which would carry over annually and be spent per the Board of Selectmen‘s assessment of priorities relating to facility needs.

“There are different mechanisms that we can use to fund that,” he said, but noted it would allow for long-term planning flexibility once in place.

Newly elected First Selectman Toni Boucher spoke during public comment, putting in a plug for what she said is a pool of construction, engineering and financial experts in Wilton that should be tapped for their expertise in addressing the school maintenance issues that were highlighted in the newly released report prepared for the town by an outside consultant.

“The good news is, already I have received some input and interest on the part of some of our very talented expert residents for our town,” she said, rhetorically asking, “Where have they been all our lives?”

“Happily they are expressing an interest and they have a very deep knowledge of construction, engineering and financial help,” she said.

“Also you have former (BOF) members that can be tapped as well,” Boucher said.

Koenigsberg, likewise, earlier in the meeting made similar comments, noting he had been contacted by friends and acquaintances in those fields who had expressed interest in getting involved with the town regarding the maintenance issues.

“It requires project planners and it requires experts in construction,” he said, to deliberatively choose the right priorities to fund, as well as working under the most intelligent timeline for funding.

“If we could get some of them to call us, send us emails, please volunteer, be involved in this … We could use some help … We need expertise on how to prioritize this stuff,” he said.

Like others on the BOF, Boucher noted the importance of choosing the right process to put in place, particularly looking years ahead.

“There is no question that the process … has to be done deliberately, so it’s going to be very important how we organize it,” she said.

According to Raimondi, the Tri-Board Meeting held on Nov. 27, which included members of the Boards of Education, Finance and Selectmen, identified options for addressing the $132.1-million cost, $26.7 million of which the town will hope is ultimately returned through state reimbursement. Along with a new school municipal improvement fund, these could include straight bonding and/or earmarking necessary funds through the school board’s operating budget.

Koenigsberg took note that since the town itself owns the buildings but the BOE is tasked with paying for maintenance, it makes sense that it wouldn’t necessarily be prioritized at times in relation to other costs.

“The owner of a building will never leave it up to the tenant to do the maintenance,” he said, calling the summary of issues facing the school buildings “a long, long list of deferred maintenance.”

BOF member Sandra Arkell pointed to the importance of long-term planning and putting some kind of schedule in place.

“I think we just need more rigor in the process,” she said.

“It should be repeatable and continual,” she said.

Koenigsberg again pointed out engaging help from the public about interest rates and helping to determine how to best prioritize the projects to take advantage of them.

“We’ve got a very financially savvy town,” he said, calling on both the BOF and BOS to “seek out experts in town.”

Birch noted that the town has still yet to hear the results of an assessment of town-side facilities being drawn up by a consultant.

“We also have the municipal assessment that’s coming in, I think, mid-January is the hope,” he said, “and we’re going to need to add that to our overall capital requirements going forward.”

Raimondi stated that “making sure that the Board of Finance is seen and is part of the community” will be a particular goal this year, maintaining and improving its communication with the public.

“At the very least after every meeting,” he said, some form of newsletter should be sent out.

“I would encourage that we continue to use the survey,” he said, noting it’s an imperfect tool.

He also highlighted communication within the board itself.

“I would encourage and I want everyone to speak up,” Raimondi said. “I want to hear what everyone thinks, especially if you disagree. I think it’s important that all viewpoints are heard.”