As budget season for FY 2026 begins to unfold, the Board of Selectmen heard its first update from the chair of the Wilton Capital Planning Committee (WCPC) on Tuesday night, Dec. 16, on progress toward bonding recommendations.
WCPC Chair Jeff Rutishauser gave an explanation and update on the committee projects, supplemented by a presentation from Department of Public Works Director Frank Smeriglio, who shared some project ideas in a visual format he composed as a kind of marketing device to make the material more understandable for residents.
Rutishauser shared that the WCPC will be considering several dozen project ideas into January, after which the committee plans to present a recommendation to the BOS by March for the items it believes should be bonded next year.
In response to a question from First Selectman Toni Boucher about what items he thought were likely candidates for bonding next year, Rutishauser highlighted the same items that were presented to the WCPC by Smeriglio at its Dec. 3 meeting.
In that meeting Smeriglio had emphasized that the options he had highlighted were preliminary ones he had chosen to present because he had ample information about them, even though some of the costs were incomplete. He said that other Town departments, including the Fire Department, Parks and Recreation, and the Board of Education would all be putting forward more ideas which would be given equal consideration.
At Tuesday’s BOS meeting, Rutishauser called Smeriglio’s list “things that had been there in the past and things that are likely, based on our discussions.”
In actuality, at the Dec. 3 WCPC meeting, the committee members disagreed and debated about not only some of the items Smeriglio highlighted, but also the process of the WCPC at large. Along with frustration expressed that the group was being asked to weigh projects when only a limited number were being presented thus far, cost unknowns — the fallout of a damaged Finance Department — also raised concerns and got WCPC members wondering how they could make recommendations to the BOS when they didn’t have all the facts.
“This list is subject to change and additions based on our upcoming meetings,” Rutishauser qualified to the BOS.
Items presented included preliminary design plans for Town Hall, the Ambler Farm Yellow House, Middlebrook School renovations, Cider Mill roof replacement, road restoration, and another DPW dump truck and accoutrements.
“The one thing we don’t have on here yet is the addition of capital supply,” Rutishauser said, “and we were basically (told) ‘Back off of that because we don’t have that yet,’ but that, when it comes to you folks, will determine how much capital you have available.”
He also noted that more than one item currently being talked about involves policy decisions that would have to be made by the BOS.
“We have to continue to move Town Hall improvements forward,” Smeriglio said regarding one of them.
With $1.5 million already allocated for some window repair work, there’s currently an open-ended question of whether the town wants to go after a full-scale rebuild or renovation, or just try to piecemeal repairs in order to deal with various facility problems.
“Notice, it’s not just Town Hall, it’s the [Town Hall] Annex too. And one affects the other,” Boucher said, explaining that the condition of that space was also a big issue.
“It’s not conducive to hiring staff,” she said, stating that renovating the Annex would cost perhaps $6 million, but if Town Hall were to be rebuilt it would make that project and expenditure moot.
“We’re thinking so far ahead, but we need to think far ahead right here, when you talk about what’s your vision for Wilton … We should be thinking of the future of the town, and it’s growing,” Boucher said.
Smeriglio shared about the challenge of getting detailed numbers on projects prior to design plans being completed. He suggested that projects be divided between those running over $1 million to $1.5 million, and those that are between $300,000 and $500,000. After that, he said, more focus can be put into developing firm numbers.
“Some projects are just hard to estimate,” he said.
Smeriglio said getting the projects done is also an issue, as personnel in his department is already stretched thin. Boucher said she would be having a discussion with the BOS soon about additional personnel and that it may have an impact on the next BOS budget.
Selectman David Tatkow asked Rutishauser directly about the process of the WCPC and the frustrations that surfaced at the committee’s last meeting, and how he was trying to mitigate it.
Briefly, Rutishauser told the BOS that concerns were expressed about “backup” for some of the projects, and that he and Smeriglio were adding in more material listing different options and reasoning behind the projects under consideration, implying that that would solve the issues.
Boucher also said that it was important to review the original charge that was given to the WCPC, acknowledging that the committee might have strayed from the original focus of deciding what bonding projects identified from the needs assessment should be prioritized for the coming year.
“It’s time to bring it back into focus, of what the charge for that committee is,” Boucher said. “If there’s more to be done, then it should come back to the Board of Selectmen to have that discussion to see if they want to expand the mission or charge that was originally given.”
Second Selectman Ross Tartell refined that feedback, specific to discussion about whether bonding something like a dump truck was appropriate.
“If you look at the mandate of the committee, it comes back to buildings, bricks and mortar mostly. … it’s all bricks and mortar,” he said. “Buying a truck — I own the truck, because I put it there so we could make our budget number last year. But it doesn’t belong with you guys. You know, it should be bricks and mortar.”
WCPC Meets Again
When the WCPC met the following evening (Wednesday, Dec. 17), Rutishauser used his chairman’s report to address the frustrations and discontent members had expressed at the prior WCPC meeting, pointing out to them what their agreed-upon approach was.
“Talking about last meeting, it was a bit of a feisty and aggressive meeting,” he said. “That’s why, to kind of summarize what we are and what we’re doing, we all agreed that we’d review each bonding candidate project in public, we all agreed on the ‘Building the Future Format,’ on how we would package these both for our use and for presentation to the town going forward — and one of the things that I think we could have done a better job, we only presented one final version of each project.”
Rutishauser said providing members with more explanation and backup evidence as to why each item was on the list for consideration would be useful.
Ruishauser also acknowledged new members of the WCPC this term, including Board of Finance member Keri Roberts and BOS member Rich McCarty.
Former BOF Chair Matt Raimondi, who was just appointed to the BOS Tuesday evening, will continue to serve on the committee, while former Selectwoman Kim Healy, who has now joined the BOF, will not.