Wilton’s Annual Town Meeting began promptly at 7:30 p.m. last night, an unusually warm May evening. Some attendees in the crowd of approximately 150 people fanned themselves with the super graphic handouts covered in pie charts and dollar figures, as they listened to town officials explain the budgets that had taken many long hours over several months to prepare.

The big question is whether enough voters will show up to the polls to cast a vote–either in support or not, when voting continues Saturday, May 9, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Clune Auditorium (or through absentee ballot, available through Friday at the town clerk’s office). Past town meeting votes have not met the required 15-percent minimum voter turnout. Without meeting that magical 15-percent number, the budget will automatically pass.

(It’s important to note that no such minimum exists for the bonded capital project questions–those are decided by a majority vote.)

Warren Serenbetz, the chair of the Board of Finance, presented the recommended operating budget for the town of Wilton’s FY 2016 budget, which totaled $124,234,645. That figure results in a mil rate increase of 1.2-percent, about which Serenbetz said, “Keeping the mil rate low has been particularly challenging.”

The other challenging element, according to Serenbetz, is how employee compensation and benefits accounts for the largest chunk of the town’s overall budget–68-percent, to be exact. “This represent quite a challenge for the boards,” he acknowledged.

Breaking down the details, Wilton’s first selectman, Bill Brennan reviewed the BoS budget of $31,078,978 and Bruce Likly, chairman of the BoE explained the proposed school budget of $79,956,024.

There also were presentations on three proposed bonded capital projects, which, in addition to periods of public comment, rounded out a relatively straightforward meeting. It was moderated by resident Stephen Hudspeth, who commented at the end of the meeting on how polite attendees were and that the tone of the meeting was very respectful.

The only bit of break from tradition happened at the beginning of the meeting, when Brennan called for a motion to appoint Hudspeth; in an unusual move, resident Alex Ruskewich broke ranks and made his own motion to appoint someone else–BoF chair Lynne Vanderslice. Ruskewich, who has clashed with Hudspeth and town leaders over the issue of the Miller-Driscoll renovation project, quickly got a second. An inconclusive voice-vote left no clear winner between the two, but Vanderslice wound up withdrawing her name from consideration, so the job fell to Hudspeth.

Selectmen’s Budget

Brennan made the case for how the budget prepared by the departments under his management was “fiscally responsible,” with a 2-percent year over year increase. He pointed out that not only has the town come in under budget for many years, but that the department budgets submitted this year were “very lean,” and that there were only minor year-to-year changes for expenditures.

He added that the town’s financial state is “strong.”

He said that the town’s planned capital expenditures involve mostly replacing vehicles, including police cars, Dept. of Public Works trucks and Parks & Recreation equipment as well as other public safety gear and improvements to Merwin Meadows.

According to Brennan, the major drivers of the budget increase include:  employee compensation increases; increased facility maintenance and repair costs; increased workman’s compensation insurance reserve fund;  and the annual teamsters pension withdrawal.

“The Bd. of Selectmen believe this budget will enable the town to accomplish our key objectives and deliver essential public safety and key services to our vibrant community,” he said.

Schools’ Budget

Likly asked town residents to support the BoE’s proposed 1.98 percent budget increase, and said that an “exciting year” has been planned for next year for Wilton Schools. He led off by following advice he’d gotten earlier to rely less on the numbers and more on stories about successful Wilton students in talking about how the budget serves the district.

“I want to share insights on where our kids are excelling. Because of you and your tax dollars we are turning out amazing kids, across all schools and all grades. On a whole your district is an amazing asset, a family heirloom, and we strive to care for it to the best of our abilities.”

Likly said that the proposed budget allows the schools to expand and restructure curriculum; to reintroduce world languages in third grade; to add new courses; to increase enrichment, and continue to provide new opportunities to add more technology into classrooms.

In addition, the BoE will be starting a comprehensive review of Wilton’s special education services.

“The bulk of the increases come from special education costs. don’t expect programmatic changes, but looking for ways to curb the costs while also keep providing the services “we are legally and morally obligated to provide.”

Likly said that, “The schools will be reducing overall staff by 4.3 FTE, and coupled with the reduction of 100 students, reductions are in line of our target student:teacher ratios.”

Accordingly, while salary accounts are going up 2.38-percent, those increases have been offset due to savings in benefits costs.

Public Comment on the Budget

Editor’s note:  There was also discussion about three bonded capital projects, which took place after public comment on the budget. Reporting on the bonding questions follows coverage of the budget comments.

About 10 percent of the residents in attendance spoke to give their opinions on whether the budget should be supported or not. Speakers who spoke against supporting the budget slightly outnumbered those who said they planned to vote to approve it.

Here are selected comments with the main points made by some of the residents who spoke:

Alex Ruskewich: Personnel costs are the problems. When we start looking at headcount reductions, there were four teachers. I didn’t see any administrators; Where are your administrators? When your total school population is going down, why are we not also reducing there?

Population is projected to decrease and enrollment is projected to decrease yet we continue to increase the budgets.  If we don’t start cutting costs, we’re going to be in trouble in the future. Corporations are moving out of town. Unless we control our total expenses, we’re going to be in trouble.

Ed Papp:  “I’m going to vote, ‘No, too high,” and then I’m going to send an email to the BoF and ask them to take a harder look at the BoS budget; it’s over the top. I say that because the BoE is operating under a number of different constraints that don’t affect the BoS–there are unfunded mandates, and their budget has gone up 200-percent since 2000. But I don’t understand why the BoS budget has also gone up by a similar percentage. They piggyback on the school budget. Cuts need to be focused on the BoS.

Why can’t we vote separately on the Bos like our neighbors in Weston do? Give the boards a better sight of the sentiment that our citizens have towards the way we’re spending money.

Also like to do away with this 15 percent requirement, that 15 percent of voters need to show up on poll day. In 8-out-of-the-10-last-years, fewer than 15 percent have shown up, So people who voted ‘no, too high’ have been disenfranchised because of the town charter.

The 2014 actual amount spent by the town was $29.9 million, and the budget we’re voting on now is $32.4 million. That’s a jump of 8.3 percent from what was, but now you’re selling it as a 2 percent increase. It’s a bit too easy. Maybe we should compare actuals to budget.

Mark Gressle:  I’m here to speak against the current budget, and next years and the next. We’re on the wrong trajectory. We’ve lived in Wilton 20 years, selected…Wilton offered good value for money. There was a reinforcing loop–more spending on schools equaled better schools; better schools led to higher property values, and it seemed to work.

I wonder if that loop of higher spending leads to higher property values isn’t challenged. It may be a reverse loop:  more spending doesn’t lead to better test scores, and higher taxes may actually reduce the value of the property because competing towns offer more value for money. We need to remain competitive with the towns around us, and what would be helpful is a comparative analysis of how we compete against the  towns around us.

Ross Tartell:  Thank you, Mr. Brennan, for your 9.6 years, that’s quite a run, and the town has done remarkable things under your leadership. [applause]

The financial well-being of the town is not only due to people who work for the town, but it is due to the work and sacrifice to the people who volunteer for this town. It is due the people who work in town hall, the policemen, the firefighters, our teachers. I strongly urge that this budget is passed. It is not a budget that is terrible. It is not a budget that is overly rich. I think it should be higher. I think the town needs to invest in this town, in many ways.

Michael Graupner:  Every year I wait for someone to talk about this forgotten group–seniors, people with white hair who built the foundations of everything you’re talking about this evening. With the exception of a $1 million budget, there is no program to lessen the impact of everything you’re suggesting on seniors. Everything is going up 2.3%, 3.8% and the budget for the senior so called tax relief stays exactly the same.

What are we going to do about a school system imprisoned by a union that takes $.80 out of every dollar we spend, that then goes to the democratic party. Why aren’t we looking at a charter school system, are there other ways of operating the school system, without being beholden to the union.

Maryann [Unclear]:  We moved here 21 years ago, and we lived 25 years in Darien. Why does it cost so much to live in this town and send children to the schools when we got a wonderful result in Darien and it cost a fraction of what it costs here. This is not an investment. That’s a code word for more taxes. Invest in the children means “pay more taxes.” My investment in this town has not paid off.

Ray Moskow:  For 45 years I’ve come to meetings. I say thank you. You’ve given your time and effort, hundreds of hours. I think these people are the most qualified. The most intelligent people. The most in-depth informed people. I see the quality of what we have and I say preserve it.  I say support this budget.

Ken Dartley: It’s been four years since we’ve had an elderly tax relief committee. Only about half of the recommendations were accepted or acted on. We are losing seniors in this town. My son would not consider moving back to CT. If you force the seniors out of town, and if you force the young people not to come back, we have a dead community, I don’t think that’s going to support the school system, the selectmen’s budget, it won’t support any budget.

You seem to be boasting that you’re not giving any increase to elderly tax relief, that’s not the place to cut.

Paul Farmer:  We moved here 25 years ago.  Then, I lobbied in favor of the school budget. Now that my hair is grey, now that my taxes are $50,000 a year, I have gotten great value, so I am going to vote for the budget. What I would ask is in the future is that you would have the guts, not just at the town level, but at the state level to challenge every sacred cow–teachers, policemen, firemen. Do we need 40 policemen when the crime rate is lower than it was 30, 40 years ago? How many people do we need to harass going up and down Rte. 7. If our town doesn’t have the guts to challenge every sacred cow.

Gail Moskow:  I have been here 45 years. When we came with our children, there were many, many grey haired senior citizens who made it a point to gladly pay their taxes so that our children could go to the schools and have an excellent education. It is now our turn to help those who have youngsters here so they may have the same outstanding education that our children had. We are thrilled and lucky to be here in Wilton, but I don’t know of another place that I would rather live. Thank you, your budget is right on target. I urge everyone to support it.

Marianne Gustafson:  I would like you think hard about looking at how we compare with our neighboring communities. We want to draw people to Wilton. We need to be very cognizant what they offer for their taxes. We need to be careful of who our neighbors are, and how little it costs to live there compared to here, versus the services they provide and what we do.

Prasad Iyer:  People come to this town because of the schools. I fully support the budget for the schools. I came here for the school, every other person I know, I say, ‘Come to Wilton, for the schools.’ This town needs think a little more how to be competitive. We do a good job with the school systems, how can we do the other part and make it much more competitive. You managed to keep the budget within inflation and I support it.

Bonding Questions

All bonded capital projects have been unanimously recommended by the BoS and BoF.

1.  $90,000 appropriation for design, engineering and construction of improvements to fire station #2

Presented by second selectman Jim Saxe, who said this project was for architectural and engineering design schematics to plan for an ultimate renovation. Calling the North Wilton firehouse critical to the safety of residents in the northern portion of town, he said the project was “mission critical.”

The facility is 58 years old and hasn’t been renovated much over the years. Modern fire fighting apparatus, including Wilton’s tanker, doesn’t fit in the garage. He said that the kitchen needs to be renovated and facilities added for female firefighters. He detailed other changes that are necessary, including insulation and HVAC improvements.

Answering a question during public comment on the question, Saxe said, “For any project we do, we have to do schematic drawings to get a budget for the project. Every project we do requires A&E (architectural and engineering).”

Ross Tartell:  I’m one of Wilton’s three fire commissioners. This firehouse is named for one of the founding members of Wilton’s volunteer fire department in 1928, he was born in 1907. The last renovation that was done was around when he died. It needs to be done, it’s really necessary for the future. You need to do the analysis to understand what to spend money on.

Jerry Holdridge:  The cart is before the horse. I was on BoS from ’83-’89. It makes a lot more sense to regionalize fire departments. In the future, there will be regionalization I think. In ’87 we replaced the septic and a little later we replaced the heating system. We replaced the doors. So there have been renovations on the property. I don’t think we should spend the $90,000 on this planning and engineering, which is really code for eventual construction.

Glenn Hemmerle:  [He pointed out a slide with a multi-year plan that listed a $1 million placeholder budget for the renovation and construction of this firehouse.] “There’s no code, the forecast is there, you just have to read it, it’s right in front of you.

Bill Brennan: Regarding regionalization:  I spent 7 years going to meetings on regional dispatch–that would include Westport, Weston, New Canaan, Ridgefield, Redding, and so forth. It was a very frustrating experience. trying to resolve all the issues with regionalization of dispatch, let alone trying to regionalize the fire stations.

If we wait for the state a lot of houses are going to burn down. We must improve this facility–this is a 58 year old getting near the end of its life. It is something to determine what is necessary, not luxurious, to be done. If it saves 3 minutes, 3 minutes could be the difference for a house burning down. We need professional help how to design to get bigger apparatus in there.

It’s important to support, necessary for the protection of homes in that northern area.

Eric Gustafson:  Is there any thought to piggybacking a police satellite station on this property?

Saxe replied that part of the renovation is to make it multi-purpose, possibly to house some EMTs.

Ed Papp:  Does this include a cap at $1 million for the budget; it’s going to be another adventure like we had with M-D.

Saxe: The estimate may be less.

2. Paving resolution appropriating $400,000 to repave the WHS & MB parking lots.

Selectman Richard Dubow told the meeting that the lots were last repaved 20 years ago. This project has been part of the 5-year capital plan, and Dubow called it part of the “normal cycle of maintenance.” He said that this project was unanimously recommended by all three boards.

Brian Kesselman: Can they look at improving traffic flow?

3.  Resolution appropriating $500,000 for HVAC and electrical improvements at Middlebrook.

Selectman Michael Kaelin explained that this project is to replace a 30 year old system at Middlebrook, with a more efficient and quieter system.

There were no comments, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.