Wilton budget plan increases 6%
Published: 02-04-2025 11:40 AM |
Editor’s note: This story has been changed from its original version. Police Chief Eric Olesen is retiring.
Voters in Wilton will be asked in March to approve an operations budget of approximately $6.85 million. The current budget is $6.46 million, making the proposal approximately 6% higher.
Town Administrator Nick Germain said at Monday’s Select Board meeting that the increase is largely driven by rising health insurance costs and wages.
Board Chair D.J. Garcia said that this year’s budget process was extremely thorough.
“In my six years on the Budget Committee, this is the most-scrutinized budget we’ve been through,” said Garcia.
Equipment expenses involve lease agreements for a fire department tanker, two six-wheel highway department trucks totaling $788,000 with funds for the trucks coming from an unexpended fund balance and a capital reserve fund. The warrant articles state that other action may be taken to meet these expenses, and the monies for the tanker lease will come from taxation.
The board voted against recommending town funding of a school resource officer for Wilton-Lyndeborough Middle High School. The proposal is that Wilton fund a police contract for $41,580 for an officer who would also serve as the SRO for the WLC district. A school district warrant article on the ballot requests $124,740 to fill this position for a total cost of $166,320. Wilton’s $41,580 is for the services the officer would provide to the town in addition to school district duties.
“I think the implementation would be very difficult,” said board member Kermit Williams.
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Garcia also noted an upcoming change in the department, as Police Chief Eric Olesen is retiring
“We’ve received a formal announcement that our police chief is resigning, so now a future Select Board would be tasked with finding a new police chief and a school resource officer,” he said.
Board member Tom Schultz said that he has advocated for this position for a long time, but recognized that while the position would be filled by a Wilton police officer, the individual would likely be responding to calls at the Lyndeborough school.
The board voted 2-1 against recommending the article for approval. Because Wilton would have to hire the officer who wold serve as SRO, there will be an article on the town warrant to do so, in addition to the district article. On Tuesday, WLC District Business Administ rator Kristie LaPlante said that if either article fails, the position will not be filled.