Wilton’s Board of Selectmen (BOS) held a special meeting last night, Wednesday, March 27, to continue discussions on the Town’s bonded capital spending plan.
While the BOS is primarily focused on the upcoming fiscal year, the selectmen are keenly aware of the longer-term context, as the implications from the recently completed, 10-year assessment of school and municipal facility needs are becoming clear.
“This year has brought us one of the most difficult budget times in recent memory,” First Selectman Toni Boucher said at the start of the discussion.
While a five-year capital plan is typically presented in the budget planning process, Boucher opted to present a 15-year planning horizon for the purposes of the board’s discussions. The extended timeline is necessary to show how the long list of maintenance and repairs needed at schools and Town buildings — not to mention overcrowding at some facilities — can be addressed. Given the nature of the projects to be completed, bonding is expected to be the key to funding.
Wilton’s Department of Public Works staff have been working with the consultants who conducted the assessments to prioritize the work needed most urgently and to fine-tune the associated cost estimates. The process has been time-consuming, and many details remain uncertain amid the complexities of how to prioritize and sequence all the work. (The report on the municipal facilities and space needs has yet to even be finalized.)
The work-in-progress bonded capital plan was posted on the Town website, but Boucher is emphasizing that it will almost certainly change. She hinted that in the short term, even the list of bonding referendums the BOS is likely to recommend to voters at the May 7 Annual Town Meeting could still change.
“We have attempted to incorporate the board [members’] suggestions and also some from the Board of Finance, and also give what is a preliminary view of what it might look like in the next two to 15 years, but knowing that there is still much work to be done and more adjustments to be made, ” Boucher said. “The plan will evolve, and it will change from year to year.”
The board will continue its discussions on the plan at the April 1 BOS meeting. (No fooling — GMW will be reporting.)
Highlights from the March 27 discussion are reported below.
The selectmen are likely to request $9.5 million in bonded capital for FY’25.
This would include:
- $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
The board had previously considered $300,000 for four new pickleball courts at Merwin Meadows — a proposed amenity that is now being postponed until FY’27.
Boucher shared a debt analysis, which showed that the anticipated borrowing levels appear to be financially sound, based on projected debt service costs that would remain at or below current levels.
“There’s going to be significant borrowing capacity available to us,” Boucher said, referring to the analysis and her discussions with the Town’s bond counsel.
Selectmen voiced support for the idea of bonding to meet funding requests from Ambler Farm, but in the current budget climate they worry whether residents have the appetite for borrowing the $2 million.
In 1999, Wilton taxpayers overwelmingly voted to approve the purchase of the 200-year-old working farm as part of the town’s open-space initiative. As part of the purchase agreement, the town accepted responsibility to maintain all of the buildings on the property, including the historic houses, barns and various outbuildings. Two of those buildings are in need of extensive repairs.
The board has debated whether to include the $950,000 request for Amber Farm’s “white house” and the $1.1 million for the “yellow house” in the capital plan starting in FY’25 and spread over two years, or to postpone it until FY’26-27, or to combine the entire amount in a single fiscal year.
Boucher said she felt “torn.” On one hand, she firmly believes the Town is overdue in meeting its obligation, under the property deed, to bring the two Town-owned structures back to a condition for public use — but on the other hand, she recognizes $2 million could be “a hard sell” when there are so many critical needs throughout the Town.
“We all seem to be in agreement, I think, that Ambler Farm is our responsibility. It’s a fantastic asset to the community,” Boucher said. “We want this to go forward, it’s just a timing issue.”
“It’s a desire to make sure that when it goes to a town vote, that it succeeds,” she said. “There’s a political issue, that we don’t want it to fail. We don’t want it to be brought up this year, and be voted down. Because it would be very difficult to bring it back up.”
Second Selectman Josh Cole drew an analogy with the police station headquarters.
“If we want to be successful, we have to approach it the same way we did with the police station: putting all the information out, giving people a chance to come tour it, see the [poor] condition, see why it’s needed,” Cole said. “And then you’ll get the buy-in from the community and [they’ll] realize that, yes, this is worth spending on.”
Selectman Bas Nabulsi — who said he had recently toured the Ambler Farm properties to help inform his deliberations on the capital plan — urged the board to “exercise leadership” and communicate a clear rationale for why voters should approve the project.
“If we all agree, and we believe that this is in the best interest of the town, [and] if we look at how much it’s actually going to cost the town on a year-to-year basis — and it’s going to be nominal, I think, in terms of its impact on the budget — I’d like to think that we could explain the rationale. The buildings need to be repaired, and it’s not getting better with time. In my judgment, we need to exercise leadership and get this done now,” Nabulsi said.
When it comes to the Town’s two separate budgets — the BOS budget and Board of Education budget — there is a gray area when it comes to responsibility for paying for school building projects that cannot be bonded.
While the BOE budget includes an operating capital budget for routine repairs needed during the school year, it does not include any funds earmarked for the items identified in the school buildings needs assessment.
As he has commented in the past, DPW Director/Town Engineer Frank Smeriglio repeated the notion that greater clarity is needed.
“There needs to be an agreement in place that just says what the Board of Ed is responsible for versus what the Town’s responsible for,” he said. “That hasn’t been shaken out yet. There’s a lot of gray areas.”
He noted that a Town attorney is currently drafting a memo of understanding that will help define budget responsibilities.
A special committee is being formed to assist the BOS in making decisions on how to move forward with the needs assessment priorities.
After the BOS addresses the most immediate building repairs identified in the needs assessments, the next steps could proceed in any number of directions.
Boucher indicated the 15-year plan was a good illustration of what is needed, but not an exact roadmap.
“These [projects] are what’s contemplated, but it’s not what we’re approving long term,” she said. “That’s going to happen after the review committee takes a better look at it.”
In the current version of the plan, none of the “Priority 3” needs for the school buildings — which amount to roughly $35 million worth of age-related repairs and code compliance — are reflected in the 15-year bonded capital plan.
Boucher said she expected the needs assessment review committee would be formed shortly after the Annual Town Meeting and would consist of “not more than eight people” including various “board members, expert staff and citizens that might help in the process.”
Selectman Ross Tartell noted the committee would need a clear charge.
“We’ll have to think through the scope and objectives and how that committee reports in very carefully,” he said.
Selectwoman Kim Healy continues to express caution about spending levels and priorities.
At multiple times throughout the meeting, Healy raised questions or concerns. For example:
- She seemed uncomfortable that the board was primarily focused on FY’25 and would not be voting on a five-year bonded capital plan, as it has done in the past.
- She was concerned the Ambler Farm building projects could end up requiring more funding than currently anticipated.
- She questioned whether projects being prioritized for bonding were consistent with the needs assessment findings.
- She suggested a more thorough analysis of the Town’s expected future growth before considering any expansion projects at Town Hall campus.
The Board of Selectmen are embracing public input on the bonded capital requests.
Residents can express their views on the projects the board will recommend to voters at the May 7 Annual Town Meeting, either by sending the board an email or providing comments during the public comment portion of the Monday, April 1 meeting. Meeting details will be posted on the Town website.