WILTON – Voters will consider a proposed municipal budget of $878,206, an increase of just over $14,000 from this fiscal year, at the annual town meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 13, at Academy Hill School.
There were no major changes to the budget from last year, Town Manager Peter Nielsen said Thursday.
“We’re treading water,” he said. “We haven’t recognized the future need for equipment or road repairs.”
This budget was designed “at the expense of longer-term concerns. It’s a pretty plain-Jane budget,” he said.
That’s not to say he doesn’t expect discussion at the meeting, though.
Most likely to be contentious is a proposal to allocate $180,000 for the town’s revaluation.
Some other towns have opted to put aside money every year until they have enough to hire a firm to conduct the revaluation, but the town has not had one since the 1980s, Nielsen said. State statute mandates that a revaluation be conducted at least every 10 years.
Also, many of the companies are already booked for the next two years.
He does not expect their schedules to open up, but he cannot schedule them until he has the money in hand.
In addition, he said the length of time since the last revaluation has caused unfair taxation for many landowners.
“It’s kind of like entropy,” he said. If 100 houses are paying less than fair value and 100 houses are paying more, it averages out for the town as a whole. But some property owners are unfairly subsidizing taxes for others. A revaluation would equalize tax assessment, he said. “If we wait, it means we’ve accepted unfairness,” he said.
A warrant article regarding live-aboard boats will also likely stir things up, as a similar article did last year.
Last year’s proposal was too broad and complex, by most accounts, so the Friends of Wilson Lake scaled it down.
According to the proposal, a live-aboard boat would be defined as having a kitchen, toilet and sleeping quarters. All such boats would be required to be secured overnight “to a commercial facility capable of dealing with waste and fueling.”
Selectmen recommend passage of the article.
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