WILTON – Public input and funding are two hurdles faced by the Comprehensive Plan Committee. Members presented an update of their work to selectmen on Tuesday.

“We’re not confident that we have a sense of how people in town feel,” said committee Chairman Sy Balch.

The committee is considering surveys, a town newsletter and has compiled a list of town organizations they could visit to discuss what people want in a plan for the town’s future, he said.

The committee’s meetings are open to the public but are not well attended, he said. So, the committee has worked to find ways to get more public input as members prepare the plan.

While the town authorized $2,000 to be used for the plan, printing costs for surveys and materials for town meeting will probably take most of that amount, he said. The committee would like to bring a plan for the town to vote on at town meeting next summer, he said.

Balch asked selectmen to consider ways to finance an additional $2,000 for their work.

Code Enforcement Paul Montague donates his time for the committee’s meetings and the members would like to see him compensated for the additional work load. His job description does not include work done for the comprehensive plan, Balch said.

A question of applying for state funds to create the comprehensive plan was dropped when Montague explained that the state requires a lot of hurdles be met for a little bit of money.

The state expects a plan to cost around $40,000, he said. Dixfield’s plan came in at about $45,000, he added.

The committee has a pretty good talent pool, Balch said, adding that he thought the committee could do the work but wanted the board to consider ways to increase the additional $2,000 funding for it.

A motion to compensate the code enforcement officer $500 for his time from July to December failed. Board members felt they would like to see more information on the hours being spent before taking action.

In other business, the board changed the amount of time given for citizens to pay their sewer bills. Both water and sewer are billed on a quarterly basis, said Town Manager Peter Nielsen, but while water customers are given 30 days to make payment, sewer customers receive 90 days to pay the bill. To avoid the costs of additional computer programming for billing, Nielsen asked the board, in their capacity as water and sewer department commissioners, to make the time for payments received equal. The board agreed.

After receiving no bids for the sale of the 1983 GMC fire engine recently advertised for a minimum bid of $7,000, the board again discussed putting the fire engine on eBay. During a previous discussion the board had considered eBay and traditional methods of advertising but found it couldn’t do both methods and advertise online. The board voted unanimously to now try selling the truck on eBay.