WILTON, Iowa–When Rob Sand started his tenure as Auditor of State, he created the Public Efficiency and Innovation or PIE Program to encourage local governing bodies to save tax dollars wherever they reasonably could and to recognize cities that did so. Along with it, he created the Most Improved City Award, presented to the cities each year that have the strongest PIE results. In 2021, the City of Wilton received one of two Most Improved Cities Awards, with Dysart tying them for that honor.

Each year, the Auditor of State’s Office sends out a PIE checklist to local governments throughout the state. They encourage governing bodies to complete them and send them back. The Auditor’s Office then looks at the overall number of checklist items cities implemented as well as their improvement from the previous year to determine the year’s PIE winners, which they announce late in the fall.

Through the program, the Auditor’s Office also collects PIE “Recipes,” or new strategies cities have come up with that they would like to share with other towns so they can implement them as well. Recipes also come with contact information so that people can contact their creators with questions to help make trying them out elsewhere an easier process.

In 2021, Wilton earned their Most Improved Cities Award for a pair of projects. First, they created a composting system which reduced the amount of waste sent to the landfill, cutting down on their landfill use and transportation costs for the year. They also started a community planning committee, which will help the city have clear goals for long term projects.

Sand enjoyed presenting the award and getting to know more about the city and people of Wilton in the process. “One of the really fun things about this is meeting people who care about doing government the right way,” said Sand. “It was really fun to talk to folks who wanted to do a good job.”

On their part, the City of Wilton felt quite honored to receive the designation of a Most Improved City for 2021: “I think it’s a great thing for the city. It reflects well on our financial planning,” said current Wilton City Administrator Jeff Horne.

Horne, who recently started as Wilton City Administrator, welcomed the award though he did not initially expect to receive it. “It came as a surprise to me,” he shared. He gives credit for much of Wilton’s progress in the past year to its previous City Administrator, Chris Ball, who completed Wilton’s PIE checklists for the last several years and who helped with the implementation of the compost project and the community planning committee.