The Heat, the Hum and the Heart of the Town Meeting

More than 700 Wiltonians came out Tuesday night in what moderator and town historian Bob Russell called the largest turnout he had ever seen for an annual town meeting.

The meeting's start was delayed and interrupted several times; once to allow residents outside (still filing in 20+ minutes after the posted start time) to enter, once as Fire Chief Milositz herded attendees out of aisles and into seats to try and preserve the fire code, and briefly a few more times when the hum and crackle of an ailing sound system had residents calling for the volume to be turned up.

During one of the interludes, Russell entertained with some historical facts. He said Wilton's first town meeting occurred in 1802.

"Some of us were there," he quipped, adding that Major Samuel Comstock, a revolutionary war veteran, was elected the town's first first selectman at that time.

Debates during that meeting ranged from whether or not swine over three months old should be allowed to run loose on the town's roads and how fair a tax rate of 35 mills was (when the tax rate didn't include paying for schools). It wasn't until 1866, Russell said, that property owners in Wilton were required to pay taxes to support the schools.

That seemed a poignant fact to include on Tuesday, a night which heard many residents speak out in favor of a school budget that currently takes up about 65 percent of Wilton's overall spending.

Board of Finance Chairman Warren Serenbetz began the presentations with an overview of the current Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Proposal. Highlights include a tax rate increase set at 2.94 percent, a grand list growth rate of only .7 percent, a Board of Selectmen budget increasing .283 percent, a Board of Education budget increasing 1.174 percent, a general fund balance set at 10.6 percent, Moody's reaffirmation of Wilton's AAA bond rating and an Elderly and Disabled Tax Relief plan set at $850,000.

Town officials and residents, alike, acknowledged the financial hardships facing all Wiltonians and commended each other and the boards for their hard work in crafting lean budgets, particularly during a year where non-tax revenues dropped 17.5 percent (due to decreases in building permits, interest income, etc.) and during a two-year period where non-tax revenues have fallen just under 24 percent.

"That's a function of the economic environment that we're in," Serenbetz said.

The 2.94 percent mill rate increase is the lowest in Wilton in more than eight years and was arrived at with many concessions across town. The town has no requests for bonded capital items in next year's budget, the school system is cutting back on a number of development opportunities and 18 teaching positions, as well as K-8 enrichment, and many town and school employees have agreed to wage freezes for the coming year.

Perhaps the issue that took the most heat in an already very hot room was the teachers union's decision not to accept a salary freeze, an announcement that sent murmurs through the crowd and left many heads shaking.

The $108,695,022 overall budget proposal will likely leave the town with heavy maintenance-related costs in the coming years, as well, but many seemed to support the 20.16 mill rate as a necessity in trying times. To view a summary of the budget, consult the attached PDF.

Voting took place following the town meeting in Middlebrook and will be continued on Saturday, May 8, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., also at Middlebrook. Residents have the option of voting three ways: to approve the budget as currently proposed, to vote down the budget because it is too high, and to vote down the budget because it is too low. Absentee ballots are also available at the Town Clerk's office through May 7.

Included below are comments offered by individual residents at the meeting. Apologies to any whose names may be spelled incorrectly.

Michael Graupner

• "I'm curious about the teachers union. What is the town's response to that? Are we going to take that lying down and hope for a better response in another year? Or are we getting tough with these people?"
• "The reluctance of the teacher's union to do what is right is causing [the town] to not have a lot of things."

Judy Higby

• "The happy hum that we are hearing is somewhat prophetic...it indicates how important it is to maintain the infrastructure of this community."
• "The increase of need for our library services is without compare, our staff is working tirelessly with no compensation increase and I know that the board of trustees was challenged by these decisions. But we are not disheartened."
• "If anyone ever doubted the town meeting form of government, take a look around. It's alive and well."

Tom Rickets

• "I've lived in town for about ten years and I became a U.S. citizen last year. When I last spoke to a town meeting, it was about a year ago. I'd been unemployed at that stage for a year...I was unemployed for another six months after. The level of hardship fell to the point that we were considering leaving town."
• "I'm very disappointed in the cuts that have been made to the school budget. But a word that we have heard a lot from all the speakers tonight is 'community.' The minute you put your own self interest above that of the commnity, you are no longer a part of that community. And at that point you may as well move out of town. Because if we do not all put in from what we have to support the community and to support the schools that are the lifeblood of this community, bringing new blood into this town, educating our children, raising this town above the standard of the rest of the United States...if we do not do that, it spells economic disaster for the town and the country."
• Rickets' comments were met by enormous applause.

Marilyn Gould

• "I'm very grateful that the municipal unions agreed to a salary freeze...it's not just the union members, it's the non-union members who were led by the Wilton Library employees, who really started the whole thing."
• "I'm deeply disappointed by the teachers union that has failed to act in a responsible manner. I recommend that this budget be rejected...in order to apply more pressure to these unresponsive unions."

Heather Herve

• "It's important for [my son Maden] to be heard...because we need to be reminded of why education is important in this town."
• Reading on Maden's behalf: "I am here because I want to speak against the school budget and get the french classes back in Middlebrook. And I don't want the teachers to lose their jobs...there won't be enough stuff for when we're taking really hard CMTs....on sunny days, really sunny days, we could turn off the lights to save electricity in the classroom...we could donate return deposit money from cans and bottles to the school."

Chris Stroup

• "I, myself, am particularly anxious about this town's commitment to education."