Key Points
- Wilton officials now acknowledge the Town will miss the state’s June 30 municipal audit deadline despite previous assurances it would be met.
- CFO Dawn Savo revealed the Town has begun withholding payments to consultant Joe Centofanti, who has billed more than $210,000 for audit-related work.
- Town officials continue to express concern about the delayed audit while encouraging Savo to bring in whatever resources are necessary to complete the reconciliation process.
Why It Matters: Wilton’s ongoing audit delays raise questions about financial oversight, accountability and the Town’s ability to provide timely audited financial records, while taxpayers continue to fund consultants hired to resolve the problem.
With two weeks remaining before the state’s annual municipal audit deadline, Wilton officials acknowledged Monday that the Town will miss the Jun. 30 deadline and have begun withholding payments to Joe Centofanti, the finance consultant who was hired to help the Town complete the work.
At the Monday, Jun. 15 Board of Selectmen meeting, Chief Financial Officer Dawn Savo updated the selectmen about the development.
“We are holding checks, all right, so that is something that we’re doing in light of the situation,” said Savo, who has continued to praise Centofanti’s work and maintain that he continues doing an admirable job in trying to untangle the financial mess that has handicapped the town.
Centofanti, who bills the town $375 per hour for his work, has invoiced Wilton for more than $210,000, excluding the last two months of invoices, which have not been made available.
While BOS members emphasized that they would not hold her to any predictions, Savo finally conceded that the town would not make the deadline and instead indicated that the audit probably won’t be completed before the end of the summer.
Savo and First Selectman Toni Boucher had previously said it would be done in the spring, and later amended that to affirming the Town would, at the very least, meet the state’s Jun. 30 deadline,
Both the BOS and Board of Finance members have repeatedly raised concerns about the financial, borrowing and oversight implications of missing this deadline would mean to the Town, urging Savo to employ additional help where she could to get the work done on time, as well as on several occasions requesting that Centofanti — as a paid consultant to the town — make an appearance before either board to give an in-person update on his progress in reconciling the Fiscal Year 2025 finances of the town.
Centofanti was initially hired by the town in August 2025 as Wilton’s interim CFO. Boucher told the BOS that Centofanti’s status was changed from interim CFO to consultant after Savo was hired in December 2025.
Consequently, Boucher and Savo have argued that, despite repeated requests from elected town officials to meet with Centofanti, he is not required to speak with them and — as Boucher and Savo have stated several times — has not had the availability to do so.
“A lot of progress is being made,” Savo told the BOS on Monday, repeating a message she has delivered to town officials for several months. “I just want to really stress that there is progress being made and that we are moving forward with items.”
Savo said on Monday that she estimates that 90% of the work is completed.
“General Fund reconciliation is in progress. The Pooled Cash reconciliation, also called Inter-Fund Balancing — those two items are in progress,” she said, listing a number of other items that have been completed.
With completion of the FY 2025 reconciliation moving closer, and the budget for Fiscal Year 2027 in the rearview mirror, Savo said her department is now shifting its focus to the full-scale changeover to the Munis accounting software. Consequently, she said they may need to hire additional people to help with data entry.
Once again, BOS members were insistent about giving Savo whatever resources she needed to move things along as fast as possible.
“We want to be very clear,” Second Selectman Ross Tartell said. “Get whoever you need and don’t worry about what it costs.”
Savo said that while Tyler Technologies, the parent company for Munis, offers support consultants that could aid in the transition, she would prefer to bring in a woman she already knows as a consultant. Savo said the woman, whom she worked with in Stratford, would be cheaper and have greater availability.
While the selectmen told her they trusted her judgment on the matter, they said not to worry about cost at this time, but to try and be proactive.
“I think there’s a general feeling that we want to put this all behind us,” Selectman Matt Raimondi said, “so I would at least encourage you to come to us, even before you feel like you need to, because if you ask us for resources I think we’re going to find a way to get [them].”
Asked directly when she expected the audit would finally be completed, Savo indicated it would be the end of summer, as that’s when both CliftonLarsonAllen LLP — Wilton’s auditing firm — and PKF O’Connor Davies — Centofanti’s firm — would need to attend to other clients.
“In conversations right now our auditors and PKF need to start with new clients — their current clients — on their new audits in September,” Savo said. “Take that for what it’s worth … They’re going to be focused on their other clients and starting that next cycle, so we’re pushing, pushing this.”
Resident Joshua Kopac addressed the BOS at the end of its meeting, sharing his concerns about Centofanti’s contract and status.
He emphasized that while he didn’t blame Savo for the situation Wilton was in, he also indicated it was her responsibility to help get the situation solved.
“Leadership is what we do after inherit a problem,” Kopac said.
