Support Resounds for More Firefighters at BOS Budget Hearing

Focused on the favored addition of two new firefighters, a dozen residents expressed strong support for the Board of Selectmen‘s proposed FY 2026 budget at a Board of Finance Public Hearing at Middlebrook School on Wednesday evening, Mar. 19.

“I think it’s overdue that we increase the (firefighter) headcount by two … It’s a safety issue, not only for them, but the residents of this town,” John Miscioscia, resident and president of the Wilton Volunteer Ambulance Corps, said.

The BOS has presented the finance board with a $37,402,033 budget that represents a 4.41% increase over the current year.

While the BOF had previously asked the BOS to keep any increase at or below 3%, BOF Chair Matt Raimondi stressed the importance his board placed on incorporating input from residents in making its final decision.

While he said financial factors are evaluated, including revenue, debt service, and budget planning, “additionally, and perhaps most importantly, is we listen to the town’s citizens through direct conversation (to) tell us exactly what they want to see in their budget.”

Along with public hearings and email communications, Raimondi noted the BOF’s annual online survey as a means for residents to state their opinions; he said he hopes residents will take the opportunity to complete it online by March 28 at 5 p.m., at which time it closes.

According to a short presentation with which Raimondi opened the hearing, Wilton is looking at 4.7% total increase in expenses, with a $147 million budget currently under consideration by the BOF — $6.5 million more than the current FY 2025 budget.

He said that with a $75 million increase to the Grand List factored into the equation, the town will see its mill rate increase by 2.7%, from 23.9 to 24.6. In a calculation example presented by the BOF, this means that someone with a $1 million home assessment would be paying $24,600 in annual taxes.

Resident Jim Pickering said that if you divide the number of homeowners in town, which he cited as 6,982, by the $216,000 additional cost of two firefighters, it roughly amounts to an additional $150 in taxes for each household.

“That’s one or two dinners out with your family,” he said, voicing support for the staff increase.

The long-term hope of the Wilton Fire Department, as recently expressed by Chief Jim Blanchfield, is that there are eight new firefighters added to the roster, which would allow them to expand each of their four 24-hour shifts from six people to eight. 

“I wonder why we’re not going with four firefighters one year and four the next,” Pickering said, “’cause if we need ’em then, we need ’em now.”

“I think we’re protecting millions with pennies, so I support the increase in staff,” he said.

David McCabe, a Wilton resident and 28-year Norwalk firefighter, shared how his son fainted on the previous night and they placed an emergency call to 911.

“In the midst of that emergency we found out that two firefighters were deployed in the most southern part of Wilton, leaving only four to cover the rest of the entire town,” he said. “The purpose of our fire department is to solve emergencies, but that cannot be adequately done without appropriate manpower.”

“With the rapid growth of the community, we deserve a fully functioning, efficient fire department,” he said.

Resident Patti Temple said she had a house fire in 2008 and was surprised to learn how long it has been since the town added firefighters.

“I could say I was shocked, but I wasn’t … We make do with too few staff in so many departments. We make do with failing buildings. We make do with subpar working conditions in so many situations, for so many of our employees,” said Temple, president of Friends of Ambler Farm and chair of the Town and School Needs Assessment Priorities Committee (TSNAP).

Likewise, Deborah McFadden, a former Board of Selectmen member, put in a plug for better treatment of Wilton’s town employees.

“I think that we need to continue with the research on how we support our other public employees in terms of the Annex, the Town Hall,” she said. “They’re falling down.”

Speaking in support of the budget, McFadden said that with more families moving in, and with larger and taller buildings to contend with, the fire department should be amply staffed and equipped.

“We need to not only make sure we have the manpower, but that we have the equipment … And don’t forget Fire Station 2. It gets forgotten all the time,” she said. “These guys need a safe place to be, with potable water. It’s just been crazy how we’ve treated our public employees.”

Several firefighters from other towns attended Wednesday’s meeting in support of the push for more firefighters in Wilton, encouraged by Gary Mandel, Wilton firefighter and president of Local 2233 IAFF, the Wilton firefighters union.

“We appreciate our supporters,” he said, calling it unusual for the union to take a vocal stand on an issue.

“We choose to be vocal only on matters that we deem to be very important — matters of safety,” Mandel said. “This matter rises to the threshold, as it is a matter of safety to both the residents of Wilton and the firefighters.”

Resident Justin Sabatino, a former volunteer firefighter in Shelton, said he has both helped save lives during fires and had his own life saved by other firemen after a floor collapsed below him in a burning building.

“It’s a two-man job … It’s very hard,” he said of carrying someone out of a building fire, contrary to what people see in the movies.

“They should have four on a truck,” he said, in part so that any firefighter going into a building has people backing them up.

Jeff Locher, a town resident and captain with the Wilton Fire Department, spoke in favor of the personnel increase.

“We do with six what most other towns do with double, triple, quadruple that,” he said, citing Westport as having 15 firefighters on each shift, Ridgefield as having eight, and Fairfield as having 24 on each shift.

“Why are our residents only satisfied with only getting six on a good day, if we’re not committed somewhere else?” he said.

Resident Barbara Geddis spoke in favor of adding the firefighters, but said there were other places to make cuts in the BOS budget.

“I remain unconvinced by some of the town’s increases,” she said, praising the Board of Education for meeting the BOF’s budget guidance, which requested the BOE keep any increase at or below 4%.

“I say more work is needed, more precision is required in digging deeper,” she said. “If we support the firemen, which I do, then we have to dig deeper in other areas.

“I say every item should be scrutinized again,” Geddis said. “There’s always room to make small changes and find other means and methods.”

In her presentation, First Selectman Toni Boucher outlined the journey her board took in arriving at its final budget proposal, citing unexpected increases in insurance costs and the sapping of reserves.

She said they were already $700,000 in the hole when they began planning the budget.

Boucher said that the BOS and staff engaged in “a thorough review, a careful reduction, and thoughtful approach to the budget.”

On Wednesday, Mar. 26, a public hearing with the BOF and the Board of Education is scheduled to be held at Middlebrook School.

The BOF is scheduled to start its budget deliberations on Tuesday, Apr. 1, with the town ultimately scheduled to vote on the final numbers at its Annual Town Meeting on Tuesday, May 6.