WILTON — Voters at the annual town meeting Monday opted to put money away for three new capital accounts.

About 80 people considered the potential impact of a proposed $3 million budget for the town before deciding safety should win out. Voters agreed with selectpersons, overriding motions for no money for the new capital accounts.

By a vote of 41-32, $1,000 was raised, of a proposed $10,000, for a recreational trails capital account.

After much discussion about the safety of children at Kineowatha Park, $1,500 was set aside, down from a proposed $20,000, to begin working toward correcting a retaining wall at the swim area.

“The longer we wait, the more the  costs,” Frank Donald, recreation director, said. The estimated minimum cost is $80,000 to fix the wall.

“We’ve worried about the safety of the children and the liability for over six years,” Town Manager Rhonda Irish told voters.

For some, this wasn’t the time to save small amounts.  

“There are so many other pressures on the town,” Michael Sherrod, finance committee member, said. “This is not where our dollars should go this year.”

Voters also overrode an amended motion to put no money toward building demolition. Instead, they raised $25,000 of a proposed $50,000 for the account.

“The former Forster Mill is a ticking time bomb,” Selectperson Paul Berkey said. “A fire could take out homes on both sides. It could hurt lives big time”

Selectpersons and the Finance Committee agreed these were good projects but were concerned about the amounts of money taken from the fund balance over the past three years, Town Manager Rhonda Irish said prior to the meeting.  

Selectpersons had recommended smaller amounts for the capital accounts to let voters decide if they wanted them to work on these, Selectperson Tiffany Maiuri, said.

The Finance Committee recommended no funding for the three capital accounts.

With an anticipated loss of revenues, Selectpersons and the Finance Committee recommend taking only $50,000 from undesignated funds to help offset expenses. A total of $252,683 was used for 2014-15, Irish said prior to the meeting.

“With less funds used and less revenues in the budget, the actual dollars to be raised for taxes amount to a total increase of $303,707 over the previous year,” she said.

The higher amount caused some members of the Finance Committee to recommend decreases as much as they could, member Irving Faunce said.

“A $303,000 increase deserves our attention,” he said of potential tax increases. 

[email protected]