Wilton’s Economic Development Commission (EDC) is in the midst of analyzing data from a recently completed survey of Wilton business owners, with results that pinpoint areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction when it comes to doing business in Wilton.
The ongoing analysis was the main agenda item at last week’s (Nov. 13) EDC meeting.
While commissioners have taken a thorough first-pass look at responses from 59 business owners who completed the survey, the EDC is still delving into the details.
“There’s a lot of dimensions,” EDC Chair Joe Favarolo said, indicating the need for deeper analysis among key subsets, such as home-based businesses versus brick-and-mortar locations, and those in Wilton Center versus other locations.
In the meantime, commissioners focused their discussion on identifying key findings and themes, with the eventual goal of sharing actionable recommendations with the Board of Selectmen.
Favarolo said the recommendations could give the EDC its to-do list for next year.
Emerging Findings
The survey found business owners were more likely to be satisfied than dissatisfied with doing business in the town of Wilton — but somewhat tepidly so.
Specifically, 47% said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” while 29% were “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” — and the remainder were neutral.
While Commissioner Marty Avallone remarked that there would be good feedback from the survey in terms of “what’s going right,” commissioners also recognized that there a number of challenges for many business owners.
Respondents also gave mixed results on another key metric: how likely they would be to recommend Wilton as a place to do business. Commissioner Tom Shimko noted that this type of measure is often used in surveys to gauge overall satisfaction, enthusiasm or loyalty.
The average score for Wilton was a 5 on a 10-point scale. Shimko noted only 14% of respondents gave the highest scores of 9 or 10 (most likely to recommend Wilton) versus 63% who gave a rating from 0-6. The data suggest that even if not highly dissatisfied themselves, many respondents do not necessarily perceive Wilton as highly attractive for businesses.
Avallone noted that some of the frustrations business owners described — such as with taxes, rents or operating costs — were not necessarily under the Town’s control or easily impacted by the commission.
“It’s not clear to me what the Town could do to address some of these issues, but there are others, such as the bureaucracy [and] signage” where efforts could be made, Avallone said.
In the case of signage regulations, the EDC has already handed off some recommendations to the Planning and Zoning Commission to consider. Other challenges respondents cited in the survey included:
- Cell service and internet provider reliability
- Difficulty attracting more customers from outside of Wilton
- Local regulations
Respondents often expressed interest in networking opportunities as well as forums, seminars or training events in areas pertaining to e-commerce, social media and marketing strategies.
Next Steps
Commissioners plan to review additional data on key subgroups in order to hone their final conclusions and recommendations. They envision high-level, action-oriented summary charts that will ultimately be delivered to the Board of Selectmen.
The EDC’s next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 11.
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