Last night (Monday, Nov. 27), the Board of Selectmen (BOS) convened a special meeting, with members of the Board of Finance (BOF) and Board of Education (BOE) in attendance, to discuss a recently completed assessment of Wilton school building needs.
First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice, whose terms ends later this week, has been deeply focused on the assessment and how the hefty price tag can be absorbed by the Town. After some financial analysis, Vanderslice is optimistic that the goals for the long-range plan can be achieved — without undue burden to taxpayers.
“The good news is… this is manageable,” Vanderslice told the town officials and members of the public in attendance at the start of the discussion.
Vanderslice has shown a reasonable path forward, but it is one that is laced with big challenges. The overall feasibility of the plan hinges on several pivotal assumptions — about operating budgets, Grand List growth, other municipal building needs, inflation, interest rates, state reimbursement and more — and will require significant planning and collaboration among the trifecta of Wilton’s BOS, BOE and BOF.
The Assessment
Vanderslice began the meeting with a thorough introduction (also outlined in a memo to the three boards before the meeting) about the needs assessment, which was conducted by a consulting team from KG+D Architects, CES Engineering and Watsky Associates.
The study, also known as the Wilton Public Schools Facilities Assessment & 10-Year Long-Range Planning, is a comprehensive assessment of Cider Mill, Middlebrook and Wilton High School buildings, including:
- Architectural and structural elements
- Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and security
- Roof and exteriors
- Site features such as drains, sidewalks, etc.
- Building, fire, energy and accessibility code requirements
Miller-Driscoll, which had roughly $42 million in renovations completed in 2017, is not a factor in the identified spending needs.
The entire inventory of identified needs, along with priority order designations, is posted on the Town website.
“Priority 1” would be considered “life safety” needs, which would be targeted for completion within two years (FY2025-2026) of the 10-year plan. Other priorities would follow in roughly two to six years, with a third level of priorities extending further on the time horizon.
Erik Kaeyer, a principal at KG+D and longtime Wilton resident, presented the consulting team’s work. He emphasized that the school buildings were found to be very well maintained, and praised administrators and staff for addressing problems quickly, avoiding larger problems.
Kaeyer’s user-friendly presentation, which details the priority needs for each school, is posted on the Town website.
Getting Down to Numbers
In sum, the identified needs are estimated to have a 10-year net cost to taxpayers of $105 million, including price escalation over the 10 years, professional fees and contingencies.
It is important to note that the net figure assumes $26.7 million in costs will be reimbursed by the state. That estimate is based on the current reimbursement rate of 22.86% assigned by the state — and assumes the rate will be unchanged for the next 10 years. Without state reimbursement, the total cost would be $132 million.
Focusing on the most immediate needs, Vanderslice noted that the Priority 1 projects would have a net estimated cost of $9.2 million — that’s about $2 million more than the most recent 5-year capital plan and operating expense forecasts.
The numbers also assume that the BOE’s annual operating budget will continue to include at least $500,000 for building repairs, including $400,000 which would be used for the needs identified in the plan.
Possible Funding
Apart from operating budgets, bonding is expected to be the key source of funding for the identified projects. Vanderslice presented one scenario of projected borrowing that would provide for $59.6 million of the recommended school building projects over eight years, based on a premise of managing the debt at levels that would keep debt service increases under $500,000 per year.
Based on that scenario, Vanderslice concluded that 10 years would be “aggressive” for the entire plan, but 15 years (or perhaps even less) would be “very achievable.”
Vanderslice’s entire presentation, including the debt projections, is posted on the Town website.
She noted the affordability of bonding will be aided by expiring debt over the next several years. She shared the chart below which shows current estimates for annual debt service.
“We have sizable reductions in debt service beginning in FY2026,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of capacity.”
Proposal to Create SMB Fund
Vanderslice suggested officials consider the creation of a new fund for school and municipal buildings (SMB) as an additional tool beyond bonding. She envisioned the new fund to fall under the BOS’s authority, but with agreements forged between the BOS and BOE, and with close involvement of the BOF. She outlined the following ideas:
- Transfer the unused annual budget reserve to the SMB fund — approximately $1.3 million each year (1% of the total budget) — beginning in FY’26. Such a move would require a BOS and BOF vote each year.
- Transfer any revenue favorability to the SMB fund. Vanderslice said favorability would be reasonable to expect with the strong interest in new development and resulting permit fees.
- The BOF could budget for an annual contribution to the SMB fund when conditions allow “like a second reserve line item”
Vanderslice also suggested the BOF “consider adopting guidance to cap the dollar amount of Grand List growth used to fund BOS and BOE operating expenses, with any excess used to fund additional debt service and possibly contributions to a SMB fund.”
“Work Considerations”
Vanderslice offered several considerations and tradeoffs that officials will have to weigh in deciding how to proceed.
- Bundled bonded projects versus individual projects (weighing cost of borrowing with cost of price escalation)
- State grant funding (which often comes with strings attached) versus foregoing a grant
- Work performed by employees versus outside contractors
- Current DPW staffing levels versus additional staffing to oversee more projects at once
“There’s a lot of planning that needs to go into this,” Vanderslice said. “You can do it all with debt and you can have it grow at a manageable level. There’s other things you can do besides debt, [like] this SMB fund.”
She went on to recommend a committee, composed of members representing all the key boards and departments, to take the plan to the next steps.
“It will require a lot of collaboration,” she added — a point echoed by both DPW Director Frank Smeriglio and Wilton Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Smith.
Wondering how the cost of repairs compares to the cost of new construction? The consultant’s report put the replacement cost for Cider Mill, Middlebrook and WHS at roughly $540 million.
More BOS News
Council on Ethics: The board voted unanimously to appoint Warren Serenbetz to the Council, following discussion about his nomination at the Nov. 20 BOS meeting and Vanderslice’s subsequent consultation with Town Counsel Ira Bloom on the matter.
At the Nov 20 BOS meeting, Selectman Ross Tartell had raised questions about Serenbetz’s public endorsement of BOE member-elect Heather Priest in a Letter to the Editor during the recent election campaign. Tartell said he anticipated that the Council on Ethics may have to consider situations involving Priest, who is married to a teacher employed by Wilton Public Schools.
In a memo sent to BOS members in advance of Monday evening’s meeting, Vanderslice wrote that Bloom believed there was no legal risk from the appointment of Serenbetz to the council. On Bloom’s advice, Vanderslice asked Serenbetz “what, if any, his relationship is with Heather Priest. Do they have a personal friendship or a professional relationship? Did he have a role in her campaign, i.e. her campaign manager?”
Vanderslice wrote that she spoke with Serenbetz, who “indicated he didn’t have a personal friendship or any relationship with Heather Priest. He stated he simply endorsed the BOE slate.”
Electric supply: Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker requested approval for an extension of an electricity supply contract to lock in some savings over the next 34 months. The board voted unanimously to approve the contract.
Editor’s Note: this story was updated to include a link to Vanderslice’s presentation document.
I would encourage everybody to look at the posted list of improvements (https://www.wiltonct.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif10026/f/agendas/priorities_combined-website.pdf) before opining on it being too expensive or wasteful; the biggest categories of work by far are roofing and HVAC, plus WHS needs a new electrical system ($5M) and siding (also $5M); nobody’s building a VR STEM lab or a rooftop observatory or a pickleball court or whatever.
I would also draw attention to the line “The consultant’s report put the replacement cost for Cider Mill, Middlebrook and WHS at roughly $540 million” before anybody starts drawing comparisons to Miller-Driscoll.
As far as how to fund this: I’m heartened by the fact that our debt service is about to go down by a lot and hence that we have plenty of spare borrowing capacity, but if the BOF is going to “consider adopting guidance to cap the dollar amount of Grand List growth used to fund BOS and BOE operating expenses” then they need to also drop the pretense that the BOE budget should scale linearly with the number of students.
The BOF and their various little cheerleaders have frequently cited declines in enrollment as an excuse to cut school budgets, but the BOE absorbed a sizable bump in enrollment at the start of the year with minimal disruption to their budget, and if the BOF are going to expect the BOE to likewise absorb new students from new apartments going forward without a proportionate increase in their operating expenses, they’re going to have to admit that they shouldn’t be cutting their budget when enrollment declines either. (and for good measure they also ought to restore the money they took away based on previous enrollment declines)