Key Points
- Savo says Wilton’s long-overdue FY25 audit could be issued this week, depending on remaining steps.
- Boucher presses for a time limit on board review after Birch receives a revised draft.
- The town missed its September completion target and faces a Dec. 1 filing deadline tied to Moody’s requirements.
Why It Matters: Completing the audit is critical to Wilton’s financial oversight and credit standing, but elected officials also need time to scrutinize the report.
The long-delayed Fiscal Year 2025 audit is nearing completion, Chief Financial Officer Dawn Savo told the Board of Selectmen on Monday night, Oct. 19, although the process for reviewing and finalizing the document remained unresolved. Savo said it could be issued this week, depending on the Board of Finance’s review process and whether the auditors need to perform additional closing procedures.
On Monday morning, Savo sent a draft copy of the audit to Board of Finance Chair Tim Birch, asking whether his board needed to review it before she proceeded with the auditors, who will guide it toward completion and submission to the state.
“We’re so close now,” First Selectman Toni Boucher declared.
The FY25 audit was originally due Dec. 31, 2025, six months after the fiscal year closed. Its preparation has involved the town spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on work by outside consultant PKF O’Connor Davies and accountant Joseph Centofanti, who spent many months reconciling accounts that Town officials said were in disarray while offering repeated assurances that completion was nearing.
Savo said she contacted Birch on Monday and asked, “‘Do you feel like your board needs to review this or can I just proceed?’ And I’m waiting to hear back,” she told the BOS.
Savo told the selectmen she had received the revised draft Sunday, sent it to Birch Monday morning and would follow up with him Tuesday about the review process.
Boucher, however, pressed for a quick response, asking Savo whether she had given BOF leadership a time limit “so that it doesn’t delay this any further.”
Some members of both the BOF and BOS have publicly placed responsibility for delays with Boucher and her team, arguing that any concerns about further delays at this late stage should not be used to prevent elected officials from asking questions or raising concerns.
Birch did not respond to GOOD Morning Wilton‘s request for comment before publication. Savo said BOF review was not required because the audit is independent, but she was awaiting Birch’s response on whether his board wanted to review the draft before she proceeded.
BOF members have repeatedly questioned not only the slow process relating to the audit preparation, but a lack of communication from Savo and Boucher regarding questions over numbers, timeline and interactions with Moody’s.
The town also faces another approaching deadline. At the BOF’s Oct. 13 meeting, town bond advisor Barry Bernabe said the final audit must be completed and filed on EMMA, the public municipal bond disclosure system, by Dec. 1 to meet Moody’s requirements. He warned of possible further negative implications if that deadline is missed.
There has also been a level of drama around the audit after officials learned that on June 30, Moody’s had placed Wilton’s Aaa ratings under review because the agency lacked sufficient current financial information, warning that it could withdraw the rating if the information was not provided. In a move to satisfy Moody’s, Wilton posted an unfinished version of Wilton’s FY25 financial report on EMMA on Sept. 1 at Bernabe’s recommendation.
After receiving additional information, including the draft financial report, Moody’s confirmed Wilton’s Aaa ratings Sept. 25. That action resolved the review for now but did not eliminate the need to complete the audit.
Moody’s could still change its rating based on the results of the audit, which has been conducted by the town’s audit firm, CliftonLarsonAllen LLC, led by Leslie Zoll.
Savo said that, pending Birch’s response, she would contact Zoll to confirm the remaining steps for completing the document. She said Zoll would subsequently present the audit’s findings to the BOF.
Savo cautioned the BOS that, as she has previously said, there would be issues identified through the audit, which would ultimately be discussed in detail by the BOF’s new Audit Committee.
“They would review those and we would review how to address those. And some of those are going to be obvious,” Savo said, citing purchasing issues and noting that the town now has a purchasing position.
Savo said the auditors might need to update their checks of potential legal liabilities and bank accounts before issuing the audit. If those additional procedures were unnecessary, she said, the audit could be issued this week.
“I don’t know if it needs further review,” she said, noting that Zoll would inform her if that was the case and would consult with attorneys and her office to make sure everything was completed.
Savo also acknowledged that the town had missed the September completion target it provided to the state.
“We told the state it would be ready at the end of September,” Savo said, noting she had contacted the state directly because there was no online portal through which to file after the June 30 deadline passed.
“They sent me a form and a little schedule that I completed,” Savo said. “I sent it to all the board members when I did it — I think it was in July — and explained that we would have a draft and that we would have it finalized by the end of September.”
When Wilton was unable to meet that target, Savo said she reached out again to let the state know via email, but she did not hear back.
“I emailed the same group of people to say, ‘What are the next steps? We didn’t meet that,'” she said. Savo said she anticipated the remaining work would take only a few more weeks and asked the state what the town needed to do.
“And I haven’t heard back,” Savo said. “I haven’t really reached out to them either to find out, so….”
“Obviously once we have it, I will send it,” she said.
