Wilton residents are looking at a nearly 11% increase in both the operating budget and warrant requests for spending items.
During the town’s budget hearing Tuesday, the Budget Committee gave their recommendation to the proposed budget of approximately $5.87 million as well as most proposed warrant articles, with only minor changes adopted during the hearing, although some members of the committee expressed concern about the steep increase from the current budget.
This year’s budget is just under an 11% increase from the current budget of $5.29 million. The increases include a 5% salary increase for town employees, and resulting increases in retirement contributions and payroll tax, as well as increasing material costs for departments such as the highway.
“The Budget Committee is well aware of the percent increase there, and while we’re not thrilled with it, we’ve done the best we can,” said Budget Committee Chair Cary Hughes.
The committee did accept several minor cuts to various line items, resulting in a $9,000 decrease in the budget, before unanimously agreeing to support the proposal.
In addition to the 11% increase in the operating budget, warrant article requests are up by a similar amount. Committee members recommended most warrant articles, though not always unanimously.
When discussing vehicles which are expected to be purchased this year per the town’s Capital Improvement Plan, committee members expressed some concerns about the cost of capital outlay, though the majority of the board did recommend all proposed purchases or continuation of lease payments. The warrant includes a request for $29,000 for the fifth payment of a seven-year lease on one highway truck, as well as $17,000 for the first year’s payment of a new $75,000 vehicle.
Hughes said he had concerns about the amount of requests for capital outlay this year, in the face of declining revenue for the town.
“I feel really in a corner on this,” Hughes said.
Capital outlay requests outside of the budget are up by about $60,000, and requests for capital reserve additions are up a further $69,000, which will have a tax impact of about $1.42 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
In total, with both the budget and warrant articles taken into account, Wilton residents are looking at a increase of more than $700,000 from the current year.
Budget Committee member Dawn Toumala said the town had worked hard for the past several years to create a Capital Improvement Plan with the intent that the town is not pouring money into old vehicles, and to try to even out the tax rate, and urged the board to support the replacement schedule, which includes a $12,000 mower for the cemetery and Parks and Recreation Department, as well as a new cruiser for the Police Department for $49,000, with $10,000 coming from capital reserve funds.
The town is also asking for the second payment on the replacement for Fire Engine 1, which is set to be delivered to the town in August. The payment is $62,531.
In other Fire Department requests, the town is continuing the second year of a repair program for fire department watering holes. The second half of the out-of-service water holes are expected to cost about $25,000.
The town is also asking for a total of $125,000 to install a dedicated water line to the Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library, which will allow for the installation of a sprinkler system in the downstairs. Fire Chief Don Nourse said the space has the capacity for about 100 people, but has been limited to about 25 due to fire safety deficiencies. While the library has addressed some of those issues with new fire safety features, the sprinkler system is required to allow the space to be used at its full capacity once again.
The library is also requesting $16,000 for the continuation of the Wilton Collaborative Space past July. The library, which is administering the space for community meetings and events at the Second Congregational Church, has paid for the rent on the building as well as the administrative costs of the center through the first half of the year with a grant, but has requested the town support the venture at least through the remainder of the year to allow for a full year of programming.
The only article the board did not recommend was the creation of a new capital reserve account for infrastructure, which requested a $100,000 starting fund. The committee agreed to slightly change the article wording to make more clear the uses the fund could be for, including for roads, sidewalks, government buildings and building systems. However, Town Administrator Nick Germain said the main purpose of the article is to provide a pool for matching funds or grants for infrastructure projects.
Some members of the committee said that was not clear in the wording of the article, and members voted 3-2, with two abstentions, against recommending it.
Another split vote was for a request that $150,000 be added to the capital reserve for the repair and maintenance of the New Reservoir Dam, although the committee did agree in a 3-2 vote with two abstentions to recommend the article. Germain said both the dam at the new reservoir, as well as Frog Pond, which are both town-owned properties, are in need of repair, or, alternatively, decommissioning, both of which would be an expensive process topping $1 million. The town has already saved $100,000 in the fund, and this would continue building that reserve.
Germain said the town would likely have to bond for the major expense of the projects, but could use the fund for engineering or planning costs.
“Some of that cost will be in the next year or two,” he said.
The committee supported a related article, which would change the purpose of the fund to be for the more general repair of all town dams, not just the new reservoir.
There are several other capital reserve requests on the warrant this year, including $34,000 for the Town Hall fire protection capital reserve, $85,000 for the Town Hall repair reserve, $75,000 for the highway garage capital reserve and $50,000 for the bridges capital reserve for the eventual repair or replacement of the King’s Brook and Old County Road bridges.
The town is also hoping to alleviate long-standing communications issues for its police and emergency responders, with a request for $100,000 to cover costs for a new radio repeater system, which will be installed at the Dram Cup Hill tower. The repeaters are designed to give coverage in dead spots in Wilton. The funds are also for new radio systems for the Highway and Emergency Management departments, and to purchase the licenses for the equipment, as well as replacing dispatch console equipment.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.