With Wilton’s Annual Town Meeting just under one month away, the Board of Finance (BOF) has reviewed the list of FY 2025 bonded capital spending projects that the Board of Selectmen will submit to voters for approval.
The BOF members voted unanimously (5-0) to support the Board of Selectmen’s plan.
First Selectman Toni Boucher attended the April 11 BOF special meeting to discuss the bonded capital requests in detail. (Her full presentation is posted on the Town website.) [Editor’s note: an earlier version of the story linked to a presentation with a mis-labeled slide that mistakenly showed Middlebrook’s aging chillers as ones at Miller-Driscoll; after the First Selectman’s office corrected the slide they provided an updated link to the corrected presentation. GMW has updated the link.]
Under Wilton’s Charter, the Board of Finance has an opportunity to offer an opinion on any bonding initiatives, but the Board of Selectmen decides which projects move forward as referendums considered by voters at the Annual Town Meeting.
The Bonding Requests
On April 1, the selectmen reached agreement on the final list of bonded capital requests:
- $2.1 million for road restoration and repairs on Scribner Hill Rd.
- Nearly $1.6 million for Town Hall repairs including window replacement, heat, front entrance and other restoration and structural work
- Nearly $5.8 million in Middlebrook School repairs, including roughly $1.9 million for replacing three sections of the roof, and $3.8 million for an HVAC chiller, unit ventilators and ceiling tiles
In her discussion with the Board of Finance, Boucher methodically outlined the guidelines and criteria the selectmen followed in crafting the list of bonded capital projects, noting that credit rating agencies like Moody’s carefully examine the Town’s bonding practices.
Boucher also explained the specific needs of the aging infrastructure — with plenty of photographic support — as well as the demands on Town staff that are driving the requests for investment. (DPW staff were also in attendance to respond to specific questions from the BOF.)
Boucher emphasized that “repairs cannot be further delayed without risking higher costs down the line” and that her goal is to “preserve Wilton’s facilities and provide a safe, comfortable environment for residents and staff.”
Board of Finance Opinion
BOF Chair Matt Raimondi expressed strong support for the BOS bonding plan.
“The Board of Finance, ever since we heard about the needs assessment, we’ve been universally in favor of spending and improving the infrastructure of our town, whether it’s the pillars and the heaters in Town Hall, whether it’s the chillers in the schools. We are wholeheartedly in favor of improving our infrastructure,” Raimondi said.
“The reasons are: one, we want to make sure it doesn’t get more expensive in the future [and] two, we should make sure that the buildings that are in our care right now are also taken care of for future generations,” Raimondi continued. “So I am in favor of this, and I hope that the board is as well.”
In fact, they were. The BOF members voted unanimously to support the selectmen’s proposed bonding referendums — but not before asking some tough questions.
BOF Vice Chair Stewart Koenigsberg began with the broader question of how the selectmen had determined which projects to include for FY’25.
“What’s the strategy? What is the strategic process? Who is going through the list? Who’s making the decisions? Who’s evaluating is it worth a half a million dollars for the columns and staircase [at Town Hall] versus Ambler Farm?” Koenigsberg asked. “I have a thousand questions.”
He specifically asked if there were projects that were being excluded in FY’25 that would be more expensive in the future.
Boucher responded that a new committee would be formed over the summer to tackle the very questions Koenigsberg was asking about how to prioritize the bonded capital projects beyond FY’25.
Boucher emphasized that the requests for FY’25 reflected the most urgent of the many “top priorities” identified in the schools and municipal buildings needs assessments. However, she also revealed that Town officials — and not the outside consultants — had largely determined which needs to truly prioritize for FY’25.
“Our staff told them what we feel is really needed critically right now,” she said.
Furthermore, Assistant DPW Director/Facilities Manager Jeff Pardo revealed that to a large degree, officials had made a calculation as to how much residents would be willing to approve this year.
“I don’t want to come in with a $15 to $20 million [request] one year because, you know, it’s just not gonna get approved. You may approve it, but I don’t see how the town will approve it,” Pardo told the board.
Pardo also noted that “it’s a juggling act” as unexpected needs can emerge at any given time.
Raimondi ended the meeting on a hopeful note and encouraged residents to attend the Annual Town Meeting.
“We’ll see what happens at the Annual Town Meeting,” he said. “Hopefully our residents support the budgets as proposed.”
Unlike the budgets, which automatically pass if less than 15% of registered voters cast ballots, each bonding referendum will pass or fail based on the simple majority of votes for each measure — no matter how many people cast ballots.
The Board of Finance is not scheduled to meet again before the May 7 Annual Town Meeting.
In light of the budget decision, what steps have the selectman taken to reduce the number of employees that bloated the Educational Services?