Frustrated Selectmen Losing Faith in Town’s Financial Picture

Wilton’s two top administrative officials continue insisting that there’s no reason for concern, but at least three Board of Selectmen members remain distressed with the promises they keep getting from Town Hall.

On Monday, May 4 — the night before the Annual Town Meeting, when residents will have their chance to approve or reject the proposed budget — three BOS members expressed their escalating frustration with the continuing claims of First Selectman Toni Boucher and Chief Financial Officer Dawn Savo, who state that everything will be fine with regard to the town audit and reconciliation of the Town’s Fiscal Year 2025 finances, despite the recurring delays and an absence of communication.

Specifically, the selectmen remain baffled why the former interim CFO Joseph Centofanti, who continues to serve Wilton as a highly paid consultant reportedly still in the process of reconciling those accounts, does not communicate with the BOS even when they’ve requested him to appear.

“Unprofessional“

“The lack of communication I think has been very frustrating to the point of being unprofessional at this point,” Selectman David Tatkow said.

“The town has expended considerable resources, you know, and we’ve extended a lot of patience … but there are limits of patience too,” he told Savo, who during the meeting gave the BOS members a long-awaited list of items that Centofanti has supposedly been working on.

Previously, Savo and Boucher had said that Centofanti said his work would be completed by several past dates that have come and gone, including Mar. 30 and then the end of April. Savo reported Monday night that the work being conducted by Centofanti — a $375-an-hour consultant who will likely cost the town close to $300,000 if and when his work is finally finished — is very close to completion but still not concluded.

“Frankly, I’m glad we have this,” Tatkow said of the list Savo provided of 45 specific areas that Centofanti has been working on, “but I think it’s rather unprofessional we’ve gotten this, after how many months of nothing at all? And I think the lack of communication has been very frustrating and I think we’re still very concerned.”

“I think we as a town expended significantly for this,” he said. “The Board of Finance‘s frustration is palpable and I think it was justified … We’re very frustrated.”

He and others have not held Savo responsible for Centofanti’s lack of communication, even as she and Boucher have continued to defend his limited interaction with the BOS. Savo said that because he is no longer serving as interim CFO, he is not required to communicate with the board and that she remains in contact with him and the auditors.

“He’s no longer in that capacity so he’s only, quote, finishing out the audit at this point,” Savo said, “and in my view he needs to spend all [his] time focused on finishing out the audit. I’d rather have him working ’til midnight finishing out the audit.”

“We are still on track for Jun. 30,” she said. “We’re in constant contact with the auditors and Joe.”

As they did at last month’s BOS meeting, the selectmen again asked if Centofanti could address the board. Boucher, however, again stated she wasn’t sure it could happen, citing how busy he was.

Potential Ramifications — “They’re going to be looking at you.”

It’s unclear exactly what the ramifications will be if the town fails to have its state-mandated audit completed by the Jun. 30 deadline, which ultimately requires that all the financials for Fiscal Year 2025 be closed out and reconciled.

In an email to Savo dated Apr. 10, William Plummer, local government program manager with the state’s Office of Policy and Management, said a delinquent audit report could give a municipality a “Tier 1 designation,” pending a vote by the Municipal Finance Advisory Commission. This could then lead to a penalty assessment of up to $50,000 and mandatory meetings with the MFAC for review and explanations, but apparently no further punitive measures.

There are other unknowns, however, that could be associated with the failure, including impacts on the town’s financial reputation and standing with regard to credit rating.

“Do you understand if this is not done by Jun. 30, just how serious this is?” Selectman Matt Raimondi told Boucher. “And they’re going to be looking at you.”

“People are asking a lot of questions and ultimately if this isn’t done, Toni, the accountability sits with you on this not being done. It’s critical this is done and I’m telling you, if this is the guy doing it, we need to speak to him.”

What Happened?

Raimondi also raised the still fully unanswered question of exactly why the town’s Finance Department was facing the struggles it was. 

“It would be helpful if Joe were here to answer this, but there are clearly issues,” Raimondi said. Speaking to Savo, he continued, “Your predecessor — and there’s been a lot written about her — the [FY 2024] audit was still done well before this point [last year], so what exactly happened [with FY 2025]?”

“I’m trying to get a sense of, well, Are the issues that caused this still here and that’s going to make it go further,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to understand.”

Boucher responded with impatience.

“Okay, we have gone over this multiple times,” Boucher said. “I’ll repeat it again, okay. The previous audit was done with a different accounting system. In September of 2024 the then-CFO was going to implement an entirely new accounting system and we did not know that it was [not] going well at all until May of the following year [2025] when they asked for some help, and at that point of time the process unraveled in that it wasn’t being implemented correctly.”

CFO Worked Virtually

As GOOD Morning Wilton later uncovered and reported, it was on May 12, 2025 that former CFO Dawn Norton officially took an in-person full-time job in Wyoming, where she had been living and working virtually for Wilton from off-and-on for many months. Norton’s continued working for Wilton simultaneously, although Town officials said they did not know about her second job at the time.

While Boucher and then-Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker knew for months that Norton was working remotely — and regularly appearing at BOS and BOF meetings by Zoom — both said they were unaware she had taken another full-time job. GOOD Morning Wilton first reported Norton’s Wyoming position in a story published on Aug. 4, 2025.

Officially, Norton reported to Knickerbocker, who was responsible for overseeing her work, including her progress with the implementation of a new accounting system. In a recent interview with GMW, Knickerbocker said he remained in frequent contact with Norton during the time period and believed she was continuing work on the town’s accounting system conversion.

“During that time, I talked to her every single day,” Knickerbocker said. “This was after we had assigned — I can’t remember this woman’s name, there was a Munis expert to try to help her get the Munis thing done and get it done properly — we talked to that individual almost every day.”

He said he was not aware Norton had indicated she might seek outside employment, and that any notice indicating she might do so was provided to Boucher and the town’s HR director, and which he said was not shared with him.

Boucher said on Monday night that the failed proper implementation of the Munis accounting program led to the unraveling of the financial data at Town Hall. There were several other issues regarding budget data that arose for the BOF during last year’s budget process as well, and prior to Norton’s departure, plans were being made for an outside entity to examine processes within Town Hall’s Finance Department.

“We’ve heard many times that the switch from one system to another screwed up everything,” Selectman Ross Tartell said. “Things were put in all the wrong places, but nonetheless Norton made the audit.”

Savo said that in conversations she’s had with the auditor, there is confidence that they will get this done in time.

“We’re still on track,” Savo said.

She said that while technically they have not closed the books on Fiscal Year ’25, it had undergone what she described as a “soft close.”

“Technically it’s not closed ’til we get the audit done,” Savo said. “When the audit is done you’re going to get your final auditing entries and then your books are permanently closed.”

Boucher said this was a positive sign that work was “getting done behind the scenes.”

The selectmen were still skeptical, especially with regard to Centofanti’s reticence in speaking to the BOS or BOF.

“We’ve made enormous progress,” Tartell said. “There’s no question about that [but] there’s real frustration about communication.”

Raimondi echoed the sentiment about Centofanti.”When all is said and done … I don’t know why he wouldn’t come,” he said.