WILTON -In response to a letter written by Irv Faunce of Western Maine Community Action, selectmen Tuesday discussed the town’s options in spending Wilton’s $16,888 share from the recent sale of a High Street home.
The community action group bought 9 High St. years ago as part of an initiative to increase the availability of low-income housing in Wilton. The town contributed to the purchase with money from a federal Community Development Grant earmarked for affordable housing. When 9 High St. was sold, part of the sale price reverted to the town.
Faunce and the agency’s executive director, Fenwick Fowler, met with selectmen for the first time Feb. 7, when they asked the board to put the money into a Western Maine Community Action revolving loan fund, which currently has about $130,000. Faunce and Fowler said the money would be loaned to low-income Wilton residents who could not otherwise afford structural-, safety- and energy-conserving home improvements. Selectmen turned down the Western Maine Community Action request Feb. 7.
In his Feb. 15 letter, Faunce said that the town must spend the money on affordable housing, as intended by the original federal grant, regardless of whether Wilton taxpayers decide to go through Western Maine Community Action or not. He cited comments from Oran Whitcomb, of the state Department of Economic and Community Development, who said Wilton can use the funds for any Title 1 Community Development Block Grant-eligible program activity.
“What they cannot do is use the funds for activities in the course of general conduct of government,” Whitcomb said.
Selectman Paul Gooch and board Chairman Russell Black both suggested asking the town residents at the town meeting to turn the money over to Western Maine Community Action. “I frankly am not sure why, if we have people willing to administer the money and do it right,” the board would vote against the measure, Gooch said. Black added he thinks the agency fund would give Wilton the most “bang for its buck.”
But Selectmen Rodney Hall and Terry Brann suggested researching other ways to spend the money before simply turning it over to Western Maine Community Action. Selectmen agreed to come up with a list of eligible activities before they take a final vote.
Selectmen also discussed the Finance Committee’s recommendations for paying for a new firetruck with committee member Shannon Smith. Smith said Finance Committee members recommended that selectmen take “up to $250,000 from the town’s surplus account,” for a new firetruck, and then add money to the town’s capital expense account for future purchases. “We’ve been using the Band-Aid approach” for too long, she said. Finance Committee members voted to ask Town Manager Peter Nielsen and other town department heads to recommend “an annual appointment of money to the capital expense reserve accounts, based on a 10-year projection.”
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