Board Of Finance Plans Another Town-Wide Budget Survey

The Board of Finance is planning to move forward with another town-wide budget survey this spring but came to the decision after some debate about the survey’s purpose and relevance.

“I’ve heard from a lot of people in town over the last couple of weeks that they really value the survey,” BOF Chair Matthew Raimondi told the board members at their meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

“They view the survey as a forum,” he said, for residents who otherwise might not have the chance to attend BOF meetings or share input with members in other ways.

At least one member, however, raised the question of whether the survey will really serve any purpose, as the BOF has already given its FY 2026 budget guidance to both Wilton Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Smith and the Board of Selectmen.

Also, as BOF members recognize that residents don’t want to see another large tax increase this year, some felt that asking questions about this upcoming budget could be moot.

“I do wonder how much value we would get out of it,” BOE member Sandy Arkell said. “I think we know people don’t want their taxes to go up.”

Instead, she suggested that it might be more valuable to prepare a survey for the summer or early fall, prior to any decision-making on budget guidance.

“I feel like we’re doing it after the fact,” she said, noting that summer timing would be much more beneficial. “We’ve already given budget guidance.”

“I do think it’s beneficial to get public comment,” she continued. “Don’t get me wrong. I do think that every voter out there should be heard. I just think we’re already starting off at a losing position. That’s what I’m struggling with.”

Other members who expressed hesitations focused more on the amount of work that the survey would generate for the board.

“I am just concerned with the amount of work that’s involved and do people look at it afterwards? Do people review the results?” BOF member Rudy Escalante said, noting he would still find it interesting.

BOF Vice Chair Stewart Koenigsberg spoke in favor of conducting a survey now, though he also suggested it might be worthwhile to expand it.

“I’ve always felt that the survey was very valuable … It’s a way that the constituents have to express their views without sending in a letter,” he said, noting it was an imperfect tool that required a lot of work.

“The next challenge is, should we change the survey (to) make it more complex, more challenging … something a little more thorough,” he said, suggesting garnering more details on capital expenditures under consideration.

Escalante said he felt part of the value of using the same survey was having consistent questions over time for analysis, with this to be the fourth year the board has done the survey.

Raimondi indicated he was excited to handle the administrative details of the survey again, explaining that while the first year was very time-consuming when he first created the survey, developing it would now proceed very quickly and smoothly, barring new additions.

“The templates are already in place … It’s effectively set up as a process,” he said. “It’s pretty automated at this point.”

Raimondi also noted that the survey was one of his campaign promises which he intended to keep. After Arkell’s suggestion, however, he said he wanted to add another survey to the BOF’s June agenda, with the idea of potentially doing one in the summer or early fall.

“I think Sandy brings up a great point,” he said.

BOF member Tim Birch also noted that a survey in the summer of 2025 could include more information about potential building maintenance costs.

“We may have the ability, fingers crossed, to have a little bit more transparency or vision of what the facility repairs look like,” he said, “not just in the first two years, but in years two through five, so that we can start to have a conversation around the upcoming debt service.”

Arkell expressed the value of both surveys.

“If it’s an avenue for people to have their voice heard, it kind of makes sense,” she said.

Meanwhile, Raimondi said he would come back to the board in January with a proposed draft of a new survey that he said would look very similar to last year’s.

“I’m just going to take out the revaluation stuff, I’m going to update the numbers and it’s going to be pretty basic from that point,” he said.

Raimondi was hopeful that the survey could be distributed to residents around mid-March and the BOF could discuss the results in April.

“It sounds like everyone finds value in it in some way, shape or form,” Raimondi said.