Coupled with good news coming out of Town Hall and Wilton’s Finance Department regarding new departmental hires, the Board of Selectmen last week heard positive forecasts for the current year’s budget and revenue forecasts.

As Fiscal Year 2025 comes to a close, Wilton’s Chief Financial Officer Dawn Norton is expecting a surplus in overall revenue of $1,345,000 for the town. This includes conveyance fees that are favorable by $431,000 and building permits that are favorable by $391,000.

“Tax collections are strong, as are back tax collections … Pretty much revenue is all favorable to budget at this time,” Norton told the BOS on Tuesday, May 20, adding, What’s before you is an extremely conservative look at this time.”

Operating expenses, meanwhile, have a total favorability of $80,000, according to estimates. An unfavorable estimate of $237,000 for salaries is being balanced by $300,000 held in reserve. Unfavorable amounts of $251,000 in legal expenses and $94,000 in insurance are being balanced out by $572,000 in other unspecified net savings, according to Norton.

First Selectman Toni Boucher said this report demonstrates that the town is drawing people.

“Houses are still selling and we’re getting part of that fee (and) building permits … That shows that the town is still red hot from the standpoint of desirability and that’s a very good thing,” she said.

Selectman Josh Cole pointed out that a bulk of that, perhaps half, was the result of the sale of the Avalon apartment complex on River Rd., the 102-unit property that sold for $65 million.

Norton said that, in conversations with Town Clerk Lori Kaback, she has heard that because of the shortage of housing inventory, higher prices are being paid.

“What she’s seeing is that the homes that are selling are selling way above what their price was, therefore bringing in a lot more of the fee that we can account for,” Norton said. 

Norton said the large increase in legal expenses was mainly due to labor relations and litigation. Over the past six months the town has been involved in some time-consuming contract negotiations. Also, following last year’s reassessment, many people brought challenges to the amounts that their homes were appraised at.

Boucher noted that, for many people, it was an extreme increase in their assessment.

“We’re over 30% increase in value, which is sticker shock for a lot of people,” Boucher said. “I would think that there would be challenges, and even though commercial was only up 15%, it was up.”

Selectwoman Kim Healy asked for followup information on how many challenges there were and how they were settled.

“Can I also ask, Dawn, in the future, that we get by department … a printout of the budget,” Healy said. “For me … I would really like to see actuals.”

Healy said that she still had unanswered questions regarding Fiscal Year 2024 that were never clarified for her, indicating she hoped for a chance to followup.

New Hires

Norton reported that new hires in the Finance Department were already proving to be of value, including a new accounts payable person.

“He’s leaps and bounds ahead of what’s been expected,” Boucher said.

Norton also said a new individual has been hired to replace the senior accountant, who is retiring.

“There still leaves one position that is open in the department, but both hires are very strong hires,” she said.

Norton described the challenges faced during the last six months due to staff shortages, including having to implement a new computer accounting system while working on the budget and preparing for a departmental audit.

“I was implementing the system at the same time the audit was going on … It was a lot of work with not a lot of time,” Norton said.