WILTON – Despite some who said the Wilton Police Department budget should be cut nearly in half, voters unanimously approved the budget as written during the annual town meeting Monday. More than 100 residents attended the meeting.

Resident Malcolm Orff motioned to decrease the Police Department budget from $334,227 to $150,000. “This town can’t afford a $334,227 police department with nothing in it,” Orff said. “This town is going downhill every day. We don’t cut services and we need to start doing it.”

Orff compared the town of Wilton to other towns, such as Turner, that have no police department and rely on the county and state police instead. “You know what you’ve got to show for this police department at the end of every year?” Orff asked voters. “A worn-out cruiser,” he said.

But few residents agreed with that assessment. Resident and school board member Susan Black said she believes in local control and she also believes problems can be solved. “I don’t think it can be solved by eliminating a department,” she said. Black added that she agreed with cutting budgets, but not to this extent.

One resident said he grew up in Standish, where there was no police department. “I got in a bad accident as a teenager and it took over an hour for the police to get there,” the resident said. Others agreed, saying they were not willing to put their children at risk by not having town police available.

Wilton Police Chief James Parker said the Police Department responds within 10 minutes for people who are in need. He said such a cut in the budget would probably mean cutting back to two officers, without 24-hour service. The department currently has five full-time officers, eight part-time officers to fill in so overtime pay is eliminated, and three police cruisers.

Sheriff candidate Albert Smith told the crowd that with no local police, the town would be served half the time by the state police and half the time by the county. Smith said that would mean much less service, because there is not enough manpower in the other departments. “You’d have to take us when you could get us,” he said.

Smith also pointed out that Wilton police work with other towns for police protection when needed. “We all work together to get good protection for the town,” he said.

Officials asked all department heads to cut their budgets significantly this year in order to keep the mill rate as low as possible. The Police Department cut its budget by $3,000. “Selectmen have cut this budget down just as much as they can,” a resident said. As the vote was called for, no one voted in favor of cutting the budget.