Wilton Candidate Profile: Warren Serenbetz For Board of Finance

WILTON, CT — The 2019 municipal election is heating up in Wilton and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office.

Wilton Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Warren Serenbetz is running for Board of Finance as a Republican. He is an investment manager. He was elected to the Board of Assessment Appeals and is appointed to the Investment Committee for the Wilton Pension Trust. He was previously elected to the Board of Finance from 2007 to 2017.

The single most pressing issue facing our town/district is _______, and
this is what I intend to do about it.

Balancing town and school spending with the revenue resources required to support it. My priorities are public safety and classroom effectiveness. Budget items which do not effect either of those are up for scrutiny. As part of that scrutiny I will listen to input from all stakeholders and deliberate with fellow board members in a non-partisan way with a goal to keep tax increases as low as possible.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I think the biggest difference is I was on the Board for 10 years, 8 as
chairman, and have a demonstrated record of delivering on what I say.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

During my past tenure on the Board under my leadership we instituted Public Participation vs Public Comment to give citizens more of a voice in the process. We instituted 3 year
projections for the BoS and BoE budgets to give some vision into future spending. We did a Fraud Risk Assessment to make sure town and school spending was secure from mishandling. We instituted overfunding the OPEB Trust and continued overfunding the Pension Trust to get to a 100% funding level more quickly. We maintained Wilton's Aaa credit rating to keep borrowing costs low. We improved the tax relief program for seniors and we reduced mill rate increases to low single digits to protect home values.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

Get involved in local politics.