WILTON – The annual town meeting will be preceded by a barbecue for townspeople at 5 p.m. Monday in the rear parking lot of Academy Hill School.

The meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m. in the school cafeteria, Town Manager Peter Nielsen said Wednesday.

The Board of Selectmen and state Rep. Tom Saviello will host the free meal of hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream, Nielsen said. The board is donating the food in hopes people will gather with other community members as a positive way to start the meeting.

One article addresses funding to replace three highway trucks used for plowing snow. Selectmen and the Finance Committee recommended $315,541 to pay for the first year of a three-year lease-purchase, Nielsen said.

“Everyone knows how hard we taxed the trucks last winter, and while some think three trucks in one year is a lot, it’s about what we would spend to buy one truck outright,” he said.

The town needs the trucks to keep winter roads as well-maintained as they have been, he said.

Voters will also consider whether they want to spend $196,000 for road reconstruction – $50,000 more than last year.

The amount reflects more road work that needs to be done, and the cost of tar and asphalt goes up with the price of oil, Nielsen said.

The public safety building, which houses the police and fire department, is in need of a new furnace.

The $16,852 for it is included in the Fire Department budget.

There’s also a request to raise $10,500 as the town’s match for a Homeland Security Grant of $199,000 that will provide a new tanker truck for the town.

Articles pertaining to the town’s 24 School St. property, a former school that is for sale, will ask voters to approve $2,000 to cover expenses. Selectmen chose to drain the building and stop heating it to save the town money, Nielsen said.

Electricity has been maintained.

Last year’s warrant asked voters to authorize selectmen to sell the property at 24 School St. but voters wanted some input on the sale and chose to require a town meeting first, he said.

The article will come back before the voters this year to see if they want to leave it up to the selectmen or still want a town meeting prior to the sale.

Voters will also be asked to raise the amount for assessing and code enforcement activities from $26,500 last year to $35,500, he said.

The amount would provide more workdays per year for the assessor, an increase from 48 to 70 days per year.

Following the revaluations, 48 days have been insufficient.

People have requested reviews of their revaluations and that meant a look at their properties in a timely manner that has required more hours, Nielsen said.