BOS Raises Alarm Over Audit Timeline as Boucher, Savo Downplay Deadline Risks

Members of the Board of Selectmen continued expressing their frustration Monday, May 18, over concerns that Wilton may not meet the state’s June 30 deadline to complete the town audit and their limited ability to speed progress on the work.

First Selectman Toni Boucher and Chief Financial Officer Dawn Savo, meanwhile, downplayed the potential consequences of missing the deadline, as they speculated nothing will likely happen as a result and that “many” other Connecticut municipalities have exceeded the deadline without major repercussions.

“There have been many, many towns that surpass that,” Boucher said of the deadline, which, if missed, could potentially result in fines from the CT State Office of Policy and Management and have a direct impact on Wilton’s financial standing, including its bond rating. “The bottom line is what happens in that case, that’s uncertain, okay, but it happens frequently throughout the state of Connecticut.”

For months the BOS has heard regular promises that all the material necessary for the work to go forward in the audit for Fiscal Year 2025 was forthcoming, that it would be completed as far back as February. 

PKF O’Connor Davies consultant Joseph Centofanti — hired by Town Hall officials in August 2025 as interim CFO and now considered a contract accountant — is handling audit preparation but he has still not appeared before the BOS since last November, despite members repeatedly asking to hear from him directly. Boucher and Savo have not acceded to those requests, continuing instead to relay updates on the audit themselves.

“There’s more work that’s needed [but] we’re in the home stretch,” Savo said.

The tensions escalated later in the meeting when Selectman Rich McCarty sharply criticized PKF O’Connor Davies, saying he did not believe the firm had “acted professionally” by refusing repeated requests to appear before the BOS directly.

Boucher stated publicly for the first time that when Savo was hired, she made it a condition of her employment that Centofanti would stay on and complete the reconciliation of the Town’s 2025 books and the audit process. 

“When Dawn first was agreeing to take this on, which was a lot to take on, she did say that one of the requirements would be that this outside consultant would stay on until this audit was complete. ‘That’s a prerequisite to my accepting the role with [you],'” Boucher quoted her as saying.

Officials Describe Scope of Accounting Problems

Once again, Boucher recounted that the problems in the Finance Department were the result of actions of her former employees.

“Both people that were part of that problem are no longer here,” she said, explaining that outside consultants should have been brought in by the previous financial leadership “on the front end” in order to solve problems related to the computer software used and consequent accounting practices that were conducted.

[Editor’s note: Boucher did not specify to which employees she was referring. GOOD Morning Wilton asked Boucher to identify the two individuals, but she declined to do so, saying only, “The town is moving forward to resolve any remaining issues in the best way possible.”]

“Instead, now it has to be done on the back end … This was a very unusual occurrence — unprecedented — and you’re looking for a normal process and result,” she told the BOS.

Savo said the primary remaining issue involves reconciliation of pooled cash accounts tied to implementation of the Munis accounting system. She emphasized repeatedly that no cash was missing and that the issue involved accounting entries and reconciliation problems rather than unauthorized spending or malfeasance.

“It isn’t cash itself. There’s nothing wrong with the cash itself,” Savo said. “It’s just how fund accounting is done.” 

While the exchanges were less heated than at the prior two BOS meetings, board members continued pressing town officials about the audit timeline and their concerns about risks associated with missing the June 30 deadline. 

Raimondi took issue with the suggestion that missing the deadline would not be significant simply because other towns have done so.

“I would just say we shouldn’t have a benchmark against failure,” Raimondi said. “If other towns are failing that does not mean that Wilton should.”

“It has to be done by June 30,” he said. “What can we give you to make sure that it’s done?”

Savo responded that there was nothing additional the BOS could provide to expedite the situation. She said Centofanti has used additional accounting staff to assist him at times but that he largely wanted to get the reconciliation work done himself.

“He prefers to do it himself,” Raimondi said with a laugh. “I’m sure he does. He gets paid $375 an hour.”

Boucher said bringing additional people into the process at this stage would create “too many cooks in the kitchen” and could complicate the work further.

“I can’t be the only one who feels frustrated,” Raimondi said. “We asked to have Joseph Centofanti come speak to us. ‘Oh, he can’t come speak to us.’ No, I’m sorry, Toni. He’s our consultant. He should be doing that but you don’t want to.”

Boucher repeated that appearing before the BOS was no longer part of Centofanti’s contract.

“I agree with Matt,” Selectman Rich McCarty said.

“We’re saying other towns do it [but] I don’t think this town should do that,” McCarty said. “I’m very risk-adverse in any form. To me, past June 30 is unknown.”

Savo defended Centofanti, saying she didn’t believe it was fair to suggest money was motivating him.

“I don’t think that’s his motivation at all. He wants to resolve this,” she said.

Savo also said she no longer wanted to promise the BOS a specific completion date because the remaining work continues to evolve and additional reconciliation issues are still being uncovered. She suggested that any focus on a deadline date was irrelevant and unnecessary.

“Now I think we’re hyper-focused on this June 30 date somehow and that was because that’s the state end date, but the reality of the situation is, the state isn’t going to do anything,” Savo said. “I’m telling you that right now. They aren’t going to do anything, but that is the date that is kind of our local date that we want to get done by.”

She added that the auditors told her they could “guarantee” completion by June 30 if all materials were provided before May 31.

Boucher said it was more important for the process to be done right.

“They did not say that they couldn’t get it done,” should the data come even later, “but they said [they] could guarantee it if they have it by May 31,” Savo said.

“The goal was much, much earlier than this, but as more things were uncovered in the process, the layers of peeling back the onion has produced this longer time period. Because you want to do it right and it be accurate, that’s the most important goal, right, is to make sure it’s accurate for all the future years,” she said.

While Raimondi and McCarty warned against accepting the possibility of missing the deadline, Selectman Ross Tartell said he wasn’t worried about the Town’s progress. 

“I have a fair amount of confidence,” he said, citing assurances the auditors made to Savo and the work they’ve completed even without some of the data being available. He said he was “a lot more optimistic” than he had been six to eight weeks earlier.

Raimondi later suggested offering Centofanti a completion bonus in the hope that it might incentivize him to finish before the deadline.

McCarty Questions PKF’s Professionalism

Later in the meeting, McCarty delivered an extended statement criticizing PKF O’Connor Davies for what he described as a lack of accountability to the BOS. 

“I don’t believe that PKF has acted professionally,” McCarty said, criticizing Centofanti’s refusal to appear before the board directly despite repeated concerns from selectmen. He called explanations that the firm did not contract directly with the BOS “specious.” 

McCarty also questioned whether deficiencies inside the Finance Department during the Munis software transition may have exposed the town to potential legal claims and whether taxpayers could have confidence that the department was now operating under consistent best practices. 

“As PKF concludes its work, can the taxpayers now have confidence in our finance department that the department is fulfilling its responsibilities and does so consistent with best practices consistently applied?” McCarty asked.