BOS Gets Late FY26 Forecast; Boucher Cautions Against Sharing Auditor Emails

As Wilton continues working toward completion of its long-overdue FY25 state-required audit, Town Hall officials have turned fresh eyes toward reconciling FY26, which ended June 30.

As has happened at past Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance meetings, Chief Financial Officer Dawn Savo did not provide information to the selectmen or the public in a timely manner before the Monday, Aug. 17 BOS meeting.

Several selectmen have previously requested more frequent financial reporting accompanied by related documentation. In past instances, Savo has handed out information only during the meeting without posting it publicly to the online agenda or has not provided written materials to anyone at all.

The issue arose again Monday when Savo emailed the preliminary FY26 Financial Summary and Forecast to BOS members at 5:33 p.m., less than 90 minutes before their meeting began. The document was posted publicly to the online meeting agenda at approximately the same time.

Savo presented her FY27 update without any supporting documents, acknowledging she had planned to only update the selectmen verbally.

Editor’s note: On several occasions, GOOD Morning Wilton reporters have asked Town Hall officials to provide materials that are discussed during meetings but are not made available publicly. For Monday’s meeting, GMW emailed the Board of Selectmen and Savo at 10:30 a.m., asking for documents related to the Financial Report that was scheduled on that evening’s meeting agenda. After a second request, First Selectman Toni Boucher responded, “I do not have any written materials at the moment but Dawn may bring some to the meeting. Not sure.”

The preliminary FY26 report currently forecasts the BOS’s operating budget approximately $200,000 under budget. After accounting for projected revenues and other adjustments, however, it anticipates that the year will end with an overall net position of approximately zero — neither over nor under budget.

Savo emphasized that, while the figures remain a preliminary forecast, she continues to urge department heads to make sure that all outstanding FY26 invoices have been submitted and paid.

“I think these numbers are 99%. I don’t see any big swings that could possibly happen,” Savo said.

Not a Criticism, But …

Elected officials have frequently acknowledged the complicated state of the Finance Department Savo inherited and the demands she has faced during her first eight months in the position. This time, however, Selectman Matt Raimondi expressed some frustration about once again receiving a financial report at the last minute.

“This comment is not meant as a criticism, but I just have to say it. We got this at 5:33,” Raimondi said, with the regular meeting starting at 7 p.m.

“I’ll speak for myself … I have a day job,” he said. “I did not have time to review this beforehand. As we were walking in I was looking at the sheet. It would be really helpful in the future to have this whenever this agenda is actually posted. It would be great so we can see it all.”

Instead, he said, it was near impossible for the BOS to provide oversight without having had an opportunity to review the numbers.

“None of this is a criticism,” Raimondi said. “You’re doing a lot of things and I know you’re balancing a lot.”

When Savo was hired, she said she would focus on reconciling FY26, while former Interim CFO Joseph Centofanti, who has billed the town over $250,000 while continuing to work for the town as an accounting consultant, would reconcile the FY25 budget until that year’s audit is completed.

Savo has said on more than one occasion that she was unable to provide details about Centofanti’s work on FY25 because she was not directly involved in that accounting and instead focused on both FY26 and FY27.

As it was reported by the Board of Finance, two dozen specific items requested by the auditors currently remain unresolved and still need to be completed before the audit can be finalized.

As she has done in the past, First Selectman Toni Boucher defended Savo and the timing of the financial report’s delivery.

“This was a request that I asked to see if we had something in writing that we could present tonight,” Boucher said of the FY26 summary. “It was done at the last minute and they’re knee-deep in focusing on the audit.”

Raimondi again acknowledged how busy Savo was, but pointed out that, following the numerous FY25 budget transfers the BOS members approved at their previous meeting to reconcile multiple overages, the board had made it clear that it also wanted to receive monthly year-to-date updates on FY27.

“A Snapshot” for FY27

Savo said she hadn’t wanted to get into the FY27 numbers, but had “a snapshot” of current figures.

“I didn’t make copies,” she said, “because I was just going to make this a verbal report at this point.”

Savo said approximately $4.2 million had been spent from the BOS’s operating budget in July. She highlighted a couple of items she said warranted the board’s attention, including the Georgetown Fire District expense, which was $17,563 more than budgeted.

“We budgeted $625,000 and it came in at $642,563,” Savo said, “and we know that is over budget.”

She also noted that while the majority of the town’s nursing contract was moved to the Board of Education budget this year, the town will incur approximately $80,000 in unanticipated additional expenses due to public health work required by state health officials.

“That’s what I’m guessing,” Savo said.

As for starting to reconcile the overages, Savo suggested holding off from making any adjustments so early in the FY27 budget year.

“I would not suggest you start assigning Charter Reserve to any of this yet, because we don’t know right now,” she said. “I would think that’s something you would look at as we go along in the year, rather than address that right now.”

Selectman David Tatkow agreed with waiting, but also reinforced the need to have regular monthly updates about the current year, especially when larger differences occur.

“Just so we’re aware,” he said, “and I appreciate you letting us know. And then, … we can have that discussion and if we have to clarify anything with a department we can do that, then and there.”

“It’s early, but to stay on it, that’s the idea,” Tatkow added. “No surprises, I think the important thing is no surprise. If we discuss it, we’re okay.”

Raimondi noted that the two new expenses Savo brought up, and the $34,000 that had not been budgeted for the Labor Day fireworks, together could represent nearly $132,000 in potential over-budget or unbudgeted costs for the BOS in the opening weeks of FY27. He called that amount significant.

He also reminded the board that it would be beneficial to discuss why many departments experience overages.

Boucher Raises Confidentiality Concerns

Although Boucher did not provide an update on the progress of Wilton’s long-overdue FY25 audit, she used the budget discussion to raise concerns about the disclosure of correspondence from the town’s audit firm, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP.

Specifically, Boucher noted that CLA emails contain a confidentiality notice at the bottom and cited that notice in urging officials not to share certain communications while the audit remains unfinished.

“I want to remind everyone, since we’re in a very sensitive period right now, finalizing the [FY25] audit and so forth, there is some correspondence that has come from our auditors that, at the bottom of each of those, particularly if they’re sharing some internal notes with us, should never be given out,” Boucher said.

“Some of this has been disclosed,” she said, adding that anyone who was not an intended recipient of a CLA email should delete it.

Boucher then read what appeared to be a boilerplate confidentiality notice attached to CLA’s email correspondence.

“‘Any distribution, disclosure, or copying of this message, or taking any action based on its content, is strictly prohibited,'” she said.

“So, during this time, I think we have to be very careful about what are some internal notes on questions that might have been asked,” Boucher said. “So let’s take that, you know, close to the vest until we get through this process. And then we’ll have plenty to discuss, I’m sure, very shortly.”

Boucher did not identify which communications had been disclosed, who disclosed them or whether the material consisted of draft audit documents, the auditor’s internal workpapers or correspondence between CLA and town officials. Boucher appeared to suggest that the disclaimer prohibited recipients from sharing the correspondence, although she did not say that disclosure was illegal or identify a specific law, legal privilege or exemption under the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act that would prohibit disclosure.

Under Connecticut’s FOI Act, records maintained by a public agency are generally public unless a statutory exemption applies. Preliminary drafts or notes may be withheld if the agency determines that the public interest in withholding them clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure. A confidentiality notice included in an email does not, by itself, determine whether correspondence held by the town is exempt from disclosure.

GOOD Morning Wilton sent follow-up questions Friday to Boucher, the other BOS members and town counsel seeking clarification about the correspondence and the legal basis for treating it as confidential. No response had been received as of publication. This story will be updated if additional information is provided.

Speaking during public comment at the conclusion of Monday’s meeting, resident Patti Frisch questioned Boucher’s statements.

“I don’t understand,” Frisch said. “There was some communication that was received by the board with a note that it was strictly confidential and could not be shared? Who has the authority to dictate that a communication can’t be shared with the town?”

She said it was worthy of inquiry as to why the correspondence was being treated as confidential and whether it was even legally supported or appropriate to do so.

“It struck me as odd,” she said of Boucher’s comment.