WILTON — The Wilton Board of Selectpersons received a visit from Karen Olivieri, senior auditor and accountant for RHR Smith & Company, on Tuesday, Jan. 2, to go over the town spending for the 2022 fiscal year.

At the meeting, Olivieri went over the draft with the Select Board, where it was revealed that the town’s cash and cash equivalents have seen a significant decrease, but Accounts Receivable has seen a sizable increase. Olivieri also shared a sizable increase in the town’s spending on liability as well.

Exact details from the audit are still in draft form as the audit for the 2022 fiscal year has not been finalized at the request of former Wilton Town Manager Perry Ellsworth, who officially resigned from the position in November of last year. His reasoning for holding off on the finalization was his intention to wait until an official audit presentation, according to his successor Maria Greeley.

During her presentation, Olivieri noted inconsistencies with the town’s unassigned fund balances which led to a discussion on policy, with Chairperson Tiffany Maiuri stating that any significant changes to how policies work should wait until the budget is finalized. She also added the inconsistencies within the budget may have to do with Ellsworth serving in the role for more than a year before Greeley transitioned into the role.

“So my main observation is we all work together so that we can get in some sort of a cadence where we can have all the dominoes in a row,” Maiuri stated when talking about moving forward with the budget and auditing process.

Olivieri also added that COVID-19 relief funds may also be a factor for the inconsistencies in spending, with certain COVID-19 relief funds going unused.

“Budgets weren’t spent because services weren’t given,” Olivieri said. “So you have extra money from there.”

Olivieri called the budget a “conversation piece” for when going to look at the budget for this year. She added that the revenue sharing and excise tax was over, which she found “to be informative.”

In her review of the town’s budget, Olivieri questioned the number of accounts dedicated to recreation funds, to which she suggested compiling the multiple accounts and funds into one account to simplify the auditing process. Greeley agreed with the suggestion.

Olivieri also suggested the Select Board look over the accounts to find any that are no longer active. Maiuri stated most, if not all of them, are active. Olivieri also stated that three accounts were at a deficit and one of those is Friends of Wilson Lake [FOWL].

“The ones that are just sitting there,” Olivieri said, “maybe just take a look at them to see if they’re still valuable and if they’re not reallocate them.”

The Select Board’s next step is to move the 2022 audit to be finalized, but Olivieri shared that could be done without an audit presentation. Moving forward, Maiuri stated the Select Board would re-evaluate the policies surrounding how the town, and department heads handle the allocation of grant funding and other funds.

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