After complaints last year from some residents who said they weren’t aware about town hearings, meetings and votes, and others who said they felt the town could have done a better job publicizing certain meetings, it seems town officials took notice. On Wednesday afternoon, March 23, first selectman Lynne Vanderslice used the Reverse 911 system to remind voters about upcoming budget hearings taking place next Monday and Tuesday, March 28 and 29.
Phones rang between 4-5 p.m. with a recorded message from the town’s top official:
“Hello, this is first selectman Lynne Vanderslice with a message from the Board of Finance to remind you of next week’s budget hearings. The Board of Education hearing is Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Middlebrook Auditorium. The Board of Selectmen hearing is Tuesday at 7:30 [p.m.] at the Middlebrook Auditorium. Thank you, and hope to see you there.”
In addition, Vanderslice has arranged to post the lighted message signs used by CERT at multiple, heavily-trafficked locations around town, with reminders about the meetings as well. There is one sign on Rt. 7 by Wolfpit Rd. and another in Wilton Center near Stop and Shop.
The Board of Finance is holding hearings (as they do annually) to publicly present the budgets that have been proposed by the selectmen and Wilton school officials, and to get feedback from residents. In recent years, the budget hearing meetings have been lightly attended. Last year’s education budget hearing saw only 20 or so residents in the audience, and it was finished only 40 minutes after it began.
This year town officials have been making a big push to encourage residents to attend the meetings and let their feelings about the budgets be known. The proposed education budget is asking for a 1.27-percent increase over last year’s and the board of selectmen have proposed a budget that is basically flat (it actually reflects a $17,000 decrease year-to-year). Still, the Board of Finance is on record that they are leaning toward asking for further cuts to help keep any likely tax increases as minimal as possible, given that the town is facing a likely $2.5 million gap between revenues and expenditures that it will need to cover.
What’s more, citizens also have been appealing to their fellow residents and neighbors to attend the meetings, as debate for and against the proposed budgets has heated up in comments to articles published on GOOD Morning Wilton and elsewhere, as well as on social media pages like the Wilton CT Politics Facebook page.
Board of Education chair Bruce Likly was pleased when he learned about the plan to use the reverse 911 system.
“I think it is a great thing! I believe the system is a town asset, paid for by its citizens and designed to make sure citizens are informed about critical town issues and events. To let it sit idle waiting for a disaster is a waste of a valuable resource. We have to run periodic tests on the system anyway, might as well put it to valuable use instead,” he told GMW.com.
Next week’s meetings are opportunities for residents to tell Board of Finance officials whether they prefer budgets to remain as they are as proposed by the BoE and the BoS, or if they feel additional cuts should be made.
The Annual Town Meeting and vote on the actual budget will be held on Tuesday, May 3.