Town Eyeing $3 Million Budget Surplus

Though incomplete, preliminary numbers indicate that the town of Wilton is slated to finish the end of the 2009 fiscal year with a budget surplus of just under $3 million.

The welcome news comes on the heels of a difficult financial year that saw the town struggle to make ends meet on a number of municipal revenue sources.

"First, let me say this is very, very preliminary," said Wilton CFO Sandy Dennies, adding that any taxes that are collected through August will be added on to the '09 totals. "I think we will probably end the year in the black and it will probably come in close to, but I do not imagine it will equal a $3 million surplus."

Worst of all the town revenue sources has been interest income. Wilton budgeted $750,000 but, to date, has only generated about $114,000 due to the depressed economy.

"We've got a little bit of a reckoning issue with that," Dennies said.

Still, the town saw boons in the educational and emergency response realms. Wilton budgeted $500,000 for special education revenue and then "received a check for $1,065,000," according to Dennies. The police department spent less than expected on its salaries, the fire department's insurance costs were down and next year the town expects to schedule most of the EMS department's expenditures to come out of their trust fund, rather than town coffers.

The town also garnered significant savings in fuel and building repair costs, saved $50,000 by not purchasing some updated computer equipment and software and saved $90,000 on highway repair-related salaries plus an extra $36,000 in overtime. That was all in addition to collecting around $300,000 more in tax revenue than anticipated.

Selectman Hal Clark commended Dennies and the rest of the finance department on putting together a budget forecast that ended up being on the money. Clark said "very few business would come in and look at their revenue forecasts" at the end of the year and see them so accurately predicted.

Dennies stressed that the figures she was presenting were not final and will not be until September, when they will be subject to audit.

"I was very pleased when I first saw these numbers," First Selectman Bill Brennan said.