Sensible Wilton announced Monday, June 1, it has filed suit in Connecticut Superior Court to compel Wilton’s Board of Selectmen to call a Special Town Meeting, as the group has petitioned for, in order to vote on whether to repeal the $50 million bonding authorization for the Miller-Driscoll renovation project. The project was narrowly approved by voters in September 2014.
The group says it is not looking for monetary damages or seeking an injunction to stop the renovation process “at this time.” It is asking for a timely hearing and vote, which it believes it has a right to under the town charter. Wilton’s town counsel has advised the Board of Selectmen the town charter grants no such right.
The group maintains town officials spent “thousands of taxpayer dollars to sell” the renovation to voters. It is awaiting a decision by the State Elections Enforcement Commission on a complaint it filed in that regard.
Sensible Wilton also maintains town officials did not reveal a projected decline in school enrollment before the vote. An enrollment report was discussed at a Board of Education meeting this spring. The group says pre-K enrollment is expected to drop 13% over the next five years while a decline of 27% in the K-2 population in the same period is predicted. According to Milone & MacBroom’s Wilton Comprehensive School Enrollment Analysis and Projections report released in March, kindergarten through second grade enrollment is projected to decline between 5.3% and 8.5% over the next eight years.
The group believes the renovation project “as currently constituted is fiscally irresponsible and will significantly damage the Town of Wilton and its taxpayers.” It also claims that in addition to nearly 1,400 signatories on two petitions members of town boards and commissions agree the project is ill-advised, although none have said so publicly or on the record.
Sensible Wilton maintains a website at sensiblewilton.org.