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The following letter to the editor was submitted by Wilton First Selectman Bill Brennan. To submit articles to The Daily Wilton, send them to kdrucker @mainstreetconnect.us.
The Town of Wilton's Annual Town Meeting will be held at the High School's Clune Center on May 3 at 7:30 p.m. Please plan to attend this important meeting, during which the town's fiscal year budget for 2012 will be presented. Voting will follow the meeting, and an adjourned vote will be held on Saturday, May 7, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Clune Center.
When I wrote all of the town's department heads in November, I indicated that we faced a very difficult Fiscal Year 2012 budget challenge, as the two previous year-over-year changes for the Board of Selectmen's budget were: a 0.8 percent decline in Fiscal Year 2010 and just a 1.1 percent increase for 2011. And in both years, actual operating expenditures came in under budget, which added surplus money to the general fund. Our goal for this coming year was to once again develop lean budgets, while still maintaining all services to the community.
The Board of Education also faced an equally challenging task of balancing limited resources to meet the educational needs of our community. Months of intensive activity by the Board of Education and the Board of Finance evaluated all areas of the school budget. Maintaining the high quality of our educational system, while operating as cost efficiently as possible, were always the primary objectives.
Both boards feel they have accomplished these objectives. However, contractual obligations, medical insurance increases, pension contributions, utility increases and recent energy cost escalations, due to the turmoil in North Africa, were major cost challenges that had to be partially offset by spending reductions in other areas. Also, no bonded capital requests were made by either board for Fiscal Year 2012.
Subsequently, the Board of Finance during its mill rate deliberations felt that the mill rate increase had to be reduced further and made a decision to reduce the Board of Education's and the Board of Selectmen's budgets, by approximately 1% each, which produced the following final proposals for Fiscal Year 2012:
2012 Budget Variances to 2011
Board of Selectmen $29,825,380 +3.36 %
Board of Education $72,777,608 +3.54%
After factoring in debt service, expected revenues, tax relief for the elderly and disabled, grand list growth and projected tax collection rates, the Board of Finance voted to propose a Fiscal Year 2012 budget to the community requiring a 3.42 percent increase in the mill rate.
On behalf of the Boards of Selectmen, Education and Finance, I urge your approval of the Fiscal Year 2012 budget as proposed. Please vote on May 3, after the annual Town Meeting or on Saturday, May 7. Thank you for your support and for voting on this important community matter,
William F. Brennan First Selectman
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