Key Points
- Wilton’s overdue FY2025 audit may not be completed until late September after outside auditors received necessary materials later than anticipated.
- A new Board of Finance subcommittee will monitor corrective actions and the town’s response to negative audit findings.
- Members are considering an annual audit calendar, written financial procedures and improved reporting to identify delays sooner.
Why It Matters: Continued audit delays have raised questions about Wilton’s financial controls and oversight, while the new BOF subcommittee represents an effort to prevent the same problems from recurring.
Wilton’s already overdue Fiscal Year 2025 audit now may not be completed until late September because the town’s outside auditors need additional time after receiving necessary materials later than anticipated, Board of Finance members Kim Healy and Rudy Escalante said Monday.
The latest projection pushes the audit’s completion well beyond its original deadline. At the same time, the BOF’s new Audit Remediation and Financial Reporting Subcommittee is beginning work intended to improve the town’s financial reporting, monitor corrective actions and prevent similar delays in the future.
The subcommittee hit the ground running at its first meeting Monday, Aug. 31, highlighting in discussion items that it wants to address and the preliminary means of getting there.
Formation of the subcommittee, which is being chaired by Healy and includes BOF Vice Chair Escalante and BOF member Kari Roberts, was largely motivated by the significant problems surrounding this year’s FY2025 state audit, which is already two months overdue.
Its completion has been repeatedly pushed back as the town worked to reconcile its FY2025 finances and provide the information needed by its outside auditors.
Ramifications for the long delay are unclear at this time, though some officials have speculated that it could impact the town’s bond rating.
For months, First Selectman Toni Boucher and Chief Financial Officer Dawn Savo reassured the BOF and Board of Selectmen that the reconciliation work was nearing completion and that the town would finish the audit before the state’s June 30, 2026, deadline.
Instead, the reconciliation timeline was repeatedly extended through the spring and into the summer as consultant Joseph Centofanti continued to bill the town but refused to meet with BOF and BOS members to share updates or directly respond to their questions. Communication between Centofanti and the boards largely occurred through Boucher and Savo.
More recently, Boucher and the BOS sought to have two selectmen seated as members of the audit subcommittee. The BOF pushed back and withdrew its original offer to include one BOS representative, citing concerns about potential conflict of interest as the subcommittee’s role is to monitor any corrective actions that the BOS, first selectman, CFO and Finance Department will be required to take.
Monitoring Corrective Actions
In presenting the new subcommittee’s mission statement, Healy was clear and careful to state that its work would not interfere with the outside auditors’ independence. She also said that members would not seek to question Finance Department officials until after the department completed any work related to getting the audit done.
“The Mission Statement of this committee shall be to support the Board of Finance in strengthening the town’s financial reporting, audit issue responsiveness, and transparency,” Healy said. “The mission of the specific subcommittee is to monitor corrective actions [and] to cure such negative audit findings.”
She said that it would provide the BOF with regular reports on the status of corrective actions being taken by the town, particularly by the CFO, Finance Department, BOS and first selectman.
“The Board of Finance will, in turn, share the findings with the Board of Selectmen,” Healy said.
She noted that the subcommittee is strictly an advisory entity with the power only to review material, request updates and monitor implementation of corrective actions, and that it cannot make operational changes on its own.
Escalante suggested that one of the subcommittee’s first actions should be obtaining written materials prepared by other Connecticut municipalities that have faced similar audit issues, and use those reports as a starting point for organizing the subcommittee’s work and preparing their findings.
“That would be something that we could then use as a pattern for what we want to work on,” Escalante said. “Then we have an outline that we’re going to fill in.”
Healy, who previously researched other municipalities and their use of audit committees, said she would look for relevant material.
Building a Timetable for Future Audits
Following Escalante’s suggestion that the Town establish an annual audit calendar, the discussion expanded into what processes need to be put in place to ensure that the Town and its various departments are prepared for the annual audit on time.
Although the members acknowledged that the question itself went beyond the subcommittee’s purview, they also noted the direct connection between departmental accounting practices and how the BOF receives information on the state of Wilton’s finances.
“Part of the problem is that we’re not being told, ‘Hey, we’re running late on this,'” Escalante said, noting that implementing a more formal timeline would make it easier for the BOF to identify missed deadlines earlier.
During discussion, the three members recalled the stalled Process Review Committee, which officials had been in the process of forming in 2025 to audit financial operations at Town Hall, until the sudden departure of Wilton’s former CFO prompted them to suspend that work. Subcommittee members said their ongoing concerns about accurate financial materials being shared in a timely manner could warrant changes in how financial accounting is handled at Town Hall.
“Each department ought to have their policies and procedures,” Roberts said, though subcommittee members said they would first need to determine whether written financial processes even exist, even if they were outdated.
Roberts raised the question of whether the Town’s Munis accounting software could be used to establish timelines and improve regular reporting, but Escalante pointed out that there were still some functions, including payroll, that are still handled through the Town’s older New World system.
“I think we need to find out from the Town first, do we have any procedures?” Escalante said. “If we don’t have procedures then there’s a problem.”
Looking Ahead to the FY2026 Audit
Healy said that in the past, the Town’s outside auditors would hold preparatory meetings with the BOF to discuss the annual audit’s schedule, plans and requirements, which provided an opportunity to address some of the timing and procedural questions the subcommittee was now raising.
“They didn’t do it for ’25 because it was kind of all over the place,” she said of Wilton’s financial situation, but added that she hopes they will hold such an advance meeting in preparation for the FY26 audit.
The subcommittee decided to meet again on Sept. 23. By then, members hope they will be able to speak with Finance Department staff — or at least Savo — about some of their questions, with the expectation that the department will have completed what they need to do for the FY2025 audit.
Roberts, who described herself as a “fan” of transparency and accountability, said that the subcommittee’s work could potentially become an important resource and tool to help the Town improve its financial practices and timetables in future years.
“I hope everybody takes it as such, as I think we’re here to do a good thing,” she said.
