“Proud of this Board”: BOF Gives Budget Guidance to Keep Mill Rate at 3% Increase

As part of its annual budget guidance, the Board of Finance is indicating it will accept a 4% increase to the Board of Education budget next year, as well as a 3% increase to the Board of Selectmen budget for FY2026.

This would result in an overall 3% increase in the mill rate if both boards abide, according to BOF Chair Matthew Raimondi.

“This is just guidance,” he said, following Tuesday evening’s (Nov. 12) unanimous vote by the BOF. “It is not binding. Our colleagues on both boards, I hope they will listen to us.”

Last month the BOF heard a presentation from Wilton Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Smith, who has estimated a preliminary increase of 5.89% in next year’s school budget. First Selectman Toni Boucher presented a preliminary Board of Selectmen budget that increased by 6%.

“When you combine that with the debt service forecast, the Grand List forecast, and non-property tax … you get to a 5.3% Mill Rate increase,” Raimondi said.

Both Boucher and Smith said these budgets were preliminary and that the numbers would likely get lower before they officially presented budgets to their respective boards.

Last year, after being told that the BOF wanted to keep the mill rate below a 4% increase, Smith originally proposed a 5.56% increase, which was ultimately whittled down to a 4.5% increase over the previous year’s budget.

Last year’s BOS budget, which originally came in as a 5% increase, was ultimately slimmed down to a 4.1% increase over the previous year’s.

In the end, the BOF approved a 4% increase in the mill rate, which was approved by the Annual Town Meeting.

Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker said the 6% increase being proposed at this point on the town side was a liberal estimate because the town is negotiating some contracts and the exact salary and benefit costs are up in the air.

“We have gotten quite a bit of pushback from the increase last year,” Vice Chair Stewart Koenigsberg said, noting that the average Wilton household saw an 11% tax increase as a result of those budgets, coupled with a Grand List increase after a revaluation based more heavily on residential than commercial properties.

Others concurred.

“I think the town was very supportive of what happened last year,” BOF member Rudy Escalante said. “I would say that they don’t want to have that happen again and they would be very disappointed if we came in with a very high number.”

Still, the board was sympathetic to escalating salary and benefit costs, as well as inflation, with Koenigsberg noting they accounted for 50% of the total combined budgets.

“That is clearly the biggest driver,” he said, praising the district for having done “phenomenally well” over the past two years.

“They’re doing everything they’re doing correctly,” he said.

BOF member Prasad Iyer pointed out that Boucher had specified the importance of the school district in her presentation to the financiers.

“That was the first thing out of her mouth,” he said, indicating it needed to be their priority for funding.

Like others, however, he said consideration needed to be paid to residents who are footing the bill, having done so last year with relative good nature.

“I probably end up in a slightly different place in that I think that wage increases, given the inflationary environment of the last year, are gonna be slightly higher, as well as the general cost of running the businesses,” BOE member Timothy Birch said.

He solely suggested they offer higher guidance numbers, with a 4.2% or 4.3% increase for the BOE and a 3.2% increase for the BOS.

“It’s never good, but it’ll be acceptable,” he said, noting that if the Grand List is higher than is being projected, they should raise the percentage-increase guidelines they approved. 

“If the Grand List comes in higher, I think that we should be making an adjustment accordingly,” Birch said.

Raimondi said he is assuming a $40 million growth the Grand List, but it was too early to know for sure.

“I have never seen residents reach out to us this early … It was a tough year,” he said of the tax increases.

“They don’t want that to keep continuing and we heard that loud and clear,” he said.

At the same time, he said he looked for ways to keep the budgets flat, but couldn’t find any.

“It’s really not doable,” he said.

Escalante turned the discussion to Wilton Library funding, with pointed questions about library officials’ response and conduct following fallout from the recent writer-in-residence controversy. He expressed frustration that library officials hadn’t been forthcoming in providing him with financial information and bylaws when he asked for them.

“What are we doing with all this money that we’re sending them every year?” he asked.

At Raimondi’s suggestion, the issue was bumped over into a new agenda item that was discussed after the guidance vote. [Editor’s note: GOOD Morning Wilton will publish a separate story on this discussion.]

BOF member Sandra Arkell agreed with other board members on the opposing issues of higher taxes versus budget needs.

“I think people really can’t sustain another big tax increase, (but) I also understand the pressure points of those budgets,” she said.

Raimondi put forward the figures of a 4% increase guideline for the BOE and a 3% increase for the BOS, which were unanimously supported.

“I think there’s consensus here,” he said, praising his board.

“From the bottom of my heart, I’m very proud of this board … I think it’s really great what we’re doing,” he said.

Correction: an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Tim Birch suggested a 4.2% increase for the Board of Selectmen budget; Birch suggested a 3.2% increase. The story has been updated to reflect that correction.