TOWN SUPERVISOR’S REPORT

5.30.26

 

Dear Friends and Fellow Community Members,

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.

 

Here is some of the news from Wilmington.

 

1.   Summer Youth Program

 

I am thrilled to announce that the Wilmington Summer Youth Program will return this year!

 

To sign up, or to get more information, please write to the program’s director, Lucy Misarski, at wilmingtonyouthprogram@gmail.com.

 

In related news: Town residents and town employees have worked together to provide youth swim lessons this summer. For more information, or to sign up, please contact the town hall.

 

Thanks to everyone who took the initiative to make this happen. It’s important.

 

2.  Summer Beach Concerts

 

We have added an extra month of summer beach concerts. The concert series will kick off on Thursday, June 4, with a performance by Colleen & the Canadian Tuxedos, featuring Wilmington’s wild & wonderful Colleen Blanchard.

 

Since we started working on setting up these concerts our goals were to add some extra concerts and to pump some new energy and excitement into the long-running concert series.

 

We’re on the cusp of achieving those goals. Thank you to everyone whose generous donations helped us to schedule an extra month of concerts and book some exciting new bands.

 

We are still looking for some business sponsors; please jot me a note if you would like to know more.

 

 

3.  Updating the Zoning Code

 

The town board will hold a public hearing on Local Law 2 of 2026: A Local Law to Improve Access to Housing in the Town of Wilmington on June 9, at 6 p.m., followed by the board’s regular monthly meeting.

 

Since holding our first public hearing on Local Law 2 back in March, we have spent a lot of time trying to address the public’s concerns and respond to the opinions expressed at the hearing, while still relaxing some of the town’s current restrictions on manufactured housing.

 

The board discussed this at length at several meetings and I’ve bounced various drafts back and forth with our land-use attorney.

 

I think we’ve come up with a text that doesn’t give any member of the town board exactly what they want, but is still a document that we all think is a step forward from the current rules.

 

Now we’ll see if the public agrees.

 

We’ve also been working on a local law that updates the town’s regulation of forestry and provides for some Planning Board oversight of large-scale land clearing.

 

Feel free to call or email me if you would like to read the current text of LL2 or LL3.

 

4.  Annual Financial Report

 

The town’s Account Clerk, Nicole Forbes, finalized our 2025 Annual Financial Report recently.

 

I am happy to report that Wilmington is in a good fiscal position.

 

Wilmington’s fund balance (similar to the town’s savings) has grown a lot in the past few years — mostly due to the arrival of a long-awaited reimbursement from New York State, but also due to extremely cautious projections of non-property-tax revenues — and that trend continued last year.

 

Last year the town’s general fund had a budget surplus / fund balance of just over $115,000 and the Highway Department had a budget surplus / fund balance of close to $98,000.

 

There’s no hard and fast rule about how much money a town should have in reserve, but a common benchmark seems to be that towns should try to have a fund balance equal to around half of their annual expenditures. Wilmington doesn’t have quite that much, but we’re not too far from it.

 

Please let me know if you would like me to email you a copy of our Annual Financial Report.

 

5.  Historical Society Updates

 

The Historical Society is holding a couple of unique events soon: gravestone repair and restoration classes in Pleasant View (Bonnieview) Cemetery, on June 5 and 6. Please contact Guy Stephenson, Karen Peters, or the Historical Society for more information.

 

The Historical Society’s “Open Discussion” series continues over the next several months. Here’s what’s coming up:

 

Monday, June 8, 6:30 pm: Historic Homes in Wilmington

 

Monday, July 13, 6:30 pm: From Agriculture & Industry to Tourism

 

Monday, August 17, 6:30 pm: Wilmington Veterans of the Civil War

 

6.  Comprehensive Plan

 

Thanks to the leadership of town board member Hanna Cromie and Planning Board member Pat Winch, the Comprehensive Plan process is moving along. The town board has authorized the creation of a five-member Comprehensive Plan Working Group, with the additional three members to be appointed by Cromie and Winch.

 

Here is a nice article about the Comp Plan process:  https://suncommunitynews.com/news/125226/wilmington-kicking-off-comprehensive-plan-process

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Comprehensive planning seems to be quite the trend in our area. We would not want to be left out. The Town of Essex’s plan is winding its way through the final stages of the process. You can read their plan here: https://www.essexnewyork.com/comprehensive-plan

 

Thanks to all of the Wilmington community members who have invested time in this process thus far.

 

7.

 

I was driving through town the other day and was struck by how nice things look.

 

I don’t think this was only due to the weather.

 

I’d like to mention the unsung people who make that happen — including the members of our Parks Department.

 

Finally, for many years Theresa Avery has placed flags on the resting places of the town’s veterans in the days before Memorial Day. She did that this year, too.

 

She certainly hasn’t done this for the recognition.

 

But she deserves to be recognized.

 

For a town like Wilmington to work well, a lot of people have to field their positions and get in where they fit in.

 

And we are.

 

Appreciatively yours,

 

Tim Follos