Wilton School Board, Selectmen Budgets Get Cut

The Board of Finance (BoF) voted to cut both the Board of Selectmen’s (BoS) and the Board of Education’s (BoE) budget for a total of approx $375,000, drawing down Wilton’s 2013 mill rate increase to .995 percent.

Selectmen Cuts

The BoF voted to cut $195,000 from the selectmen’s of $717,000 over last year. This places the 2013 selectmen budget at an increase of $522,000. The vote passed with a 5-1 margin, with BoF member Lynne Vanderslice opposing.

BoE Cuts

The BoF voted for a $180,000 cut to the Board of Education’s proposed budget.

BoF member Al Alper said that the taxpayer should expect a tax decrease after last year where, “for lack of a better phrase” they were “overtaxed”

Vanderslice said that “the increases are unsustainable” for both budgets, noting that budget projections for 2014 and 2015 were not available and that there was no indication that decreases would occur.

The BoE and selectmen’s budget combined would increase Wilton’s mill rate by .995 percent, and is on target with the BoF’s budget goals.

The two boards must now revaluate their budgets and come back to the BoF with a number that coincides with these decreases.