Supervisor’s Report 09/15/2026

TOWN SUPERVISOR’S REPORT ON 9.15.26

Dear Friends & Fellow Community Members,

Here is some of the news from around town.

Survey Results & Town Hall Forum

The Wilmington town board will hold a special town board meeting on Tuesday, September 22, at 6 p.m.

The purpose of this meeting is two-fold.

We will discuss the preliminary results of the surveys we mailed out last month. All surveys returned through Nov. 1 will be added to the tabulation, but I encourage you to return your survey soon, if you haven’t already.

We have received almost 200 survey responses so far, and the results are important, illuminating, and a little surprising.

This meeting will also serve as a town hall forum, where members of the public can ask the town board questions and offer ideas. The discussion of the survey results should serve as a good starting point for the forum.

Visit with Assemblyman Cashman

I enjoyed spending some time with State Assemblyman Michael Cashman when he visited Wilmington on Monday.

We met at the town beach, visited for a few minutes, then commenced the tour. I pointed out an area where, a decade ago, there was open water. There is not open water there anymore.

We were then joined by a handful of town officials for a short meet-and-greet. After that, we visited two local homes, where town residents provided the assemblyman with a vivid view of the way the waterfront has changed due to the sediment that has accumulated in Lake Everest.

The visit concluded with a short discussion of the plans for a New York State Winter Olympic bid.

Overall, it was an excellent visit, and I truly appreciate the assemblyman’s diligent efforts to get out and about. This was the fourth time I’ve caught up with him in the Wilmington region in the past year.

Local Law #5

Last week the town board passed Local Law #5 of 2026. This law increases the public’s notice of applications for Special Use Permits and variances. The law also increases the fines for zoning code violations.

Currently, notices of public hearings about Special Use Permit and variance applications are mailed to landowners within 500 feet of the proposed project site and are sent out at least 10 days before the hearing.

Local Law 5 increases the “notice radius” to 600 feet, allows the Planning Board to expand that radius to 1000 feet for particularly noteworthy applications, and requires that the notices are mailed at least 15 days before the public hearing.

As for the fines, they apply to people who knowingly violate the zoning code or fail to comply with a directive such as a stop-work order.

LL5 raises the fines to $500 for a first offense, $1000 for a second offense, and $2000 for the third and subsequent offenses.

Budget

We’ve started working on the 2027 budget.

My primary goals for the budget are, one, to ensure that hourly employees’ wages keep pace with the cost of living, and, two, to ensure that we stay below the 2% tax cap.

You can be sure that I will do everything I can think of to achieve these goals.

It is likely that the town board will have a special meeting or two that is dedicated to the budget. We will do our best to get the word out about these meetings after they are scheduled.

Help Wanted / Assessor Found!

We have a Dog Control Officer through the end of the year: Dan McDonald, from Jay.

The town board thanks Dan for taking on this important job.

It is likely that this job will pay around $6000 next year. If you or someone you know is interested in this position, please let me know.

I’ll close this newsletter with some good news. As you may have heard, the town has been looking for an assessor for more than two years. The town board thanks Doug Dreissigacker for stepping up.

Thanks for your time — hope you’ve enjoyed some of the wonderful weather we’ve had lately.

All the best,

Tim Follos