200.13 Financing.

(1) Special assessment.

(a) The commission may make a special assessment against property which is served by an intercepting or main sewer or any other appropriate facility at any time after the commission votes, by resolution recorded in the minutes of its meeting, to construct the intercepting or main sewer or any other appropriate facility, either before or after the work of constructing the sewer or other appropriate facility is done.

(b) The commission shall view the premises and determine the amount properly assessable against each parcel of land and shall make and file, in their office, a report and schedule of the assessment so made, and file a duplicate copy of the report and schedule in the office of the clerk of the town, village or city wherein the land is situated.

(c) The commission shall give notice that the report and schedule are on file in its office and in the office of the clerk of the town, village or city in which the land is situated, and that the notice will remain in those offices for a period of 10 days after the date on which the notice is issued; that on the date named in the notice, which shall not be more than 3 days after the expiration of the 10 days, the commission will be in session at its office, the location of which shall be specified in the notice, to hear all objections to the report.

(d) The notice shall be published as a class 2 notice, under ch. 985, and a copy of the notice shall be mailed at least 10 days before the hearing or proceeding to every interested person whose post-office address is known, or can be ascertained with reasonable diligence.

(e) No irregularity in the form of the report, nor of such notice, shall affect its validity if it fairly contains the information required to be conveyed thereby.

(f) At the time specified for hearing objections to the report, the commission shall hear all parties interested who may appear for that purpose.

(g) The commission may at the meeting, or at an adjourned meeting, confirm or correct the report, and when the report is so confirmed or corrected, it shall constitute and be the final report and assessment against such lands.

(h) When the final determination has been reached by the commission it shall publish a class 1 notice, under ch. 985, that a final determination has been made as to the amounts assessed against each parcel of real estate.

(i) The owner of any parcel of real estate affected by the determination and assessments may, within 20 days after the date of such determination, appeal to the circuit court of the county in which the land is situated, and s. 66.0703 (12) shall apply to and govern such appeal, however the notice therein required to be served upon the city clerk shall be served upon the district, and the bond therein provided for shall be approved by the commission and the duties therein devolving upon the city clerk shall be performed by the president of the commission.

(j) The commission may provide that the special assessment may be paid in annual installments not more than 10 in number, and may, for the purpose of anticipating collection of the special assessments, and after said installments have been determined, issue special improvement bonds payable only out of the special assessment, and s. 66.0713 shall apply to and govern the installment payments and the issuance of said bonds, except that the assessment notice shall be substantially in the following form:

INSTALLMENT ASSESSMENT NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that a contract has been (or is about to be) let for (describe the improvements) and that the amount of the special assessment therefor has been determined as to each parcel of real estate affected thereby, and a statement of the same is on file with the commission; that it is proposed to collect the same in .... installments, as provided by s. 66.0713, with interest thereon at ....% per year; that all assessments will be collected in installments, as above provided, except such assessments as the owners of the property shall, within 30 days from the date of this notice, file with the commission a statement in writing that they elect to pay in one installment, in which case the amount of the installment shall be placed upon the next ensuing tax roll.

(k) The installment assessment notice shall be published as a class 1 notice, under ch. 985.

(L) The commission shall, on or before October 1 in each year, certify in writing to the clerks of the several cities, towns or villages, the amount of the special assessment against lands located in their respective city, town or village for the ensuing year. Upon receipt of such certificate the clerk of each such city, town or village shall forthwith place the same on the tax roll to be collected as other taxes and assessments are collected. Such moneys when collected shall be paid to the treasurer of the district. The provisions of law applicable to the collection of delinquent taxes upon real estate, including sale of lands for nonpayment of taxes, shall apply to and govern the collection of the special assessments and the collection of general taxes levied by the commission.

(m) Section 66.0703 (14) shall be applicable to assessments made under this section.

(n) The commission may provide for a deferred due date on the levy of the special assessment as to real estate which is in agricultural use or which is otherwise not immediately to receive actual service from the sewer or other facility for which the assessment is made. Such assessments shall be payable as soon as such lands receive actual service from the sewer or other facility. Any such special assessments shall be a lien against the property from the date of the levy. For the purpose of anticipating collection of special assessments for which the due date has been deferred, the commission may issue special improvement bonds payable only out of the special assessments. Section 66.0713 shall apply to and govern the issuance of bonds, except that the assessment notice shall be substantially in the following form:

DEFERRED ASSESSMENT NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that a contract has been (or is about to be) let for (describe the improvements) and that the amount of the special assessment therefor has been determined as to each parcel of real estate affected thereby, and a statement of the same is on file with the commission. It is proposed to collect the same on a deferred basis consistent with actual use of the improvements. All assessments will be collected in installments, as above provided, except such assessments for which the owners of the property, within 30 days from the date of this notice, file with the commission a statement in writing that they elect not to have the due date deferred, in which case the amount of the levy shall be placed upon the next ensuing tax roll.

(2) Tax levy. The commission may levy a tax upon the taxable property in the district as equalized by the department of revenue for state purposes for the purpose of carrying out and performing duties under this subchapter but the amount of any such tax in excess of that required for maintenance and operation and for principal and interest on bonds or promissory notes shall not exceed, in any one year, one mill for each dollar of the district's equalized valuation, as determined under s. 70.57. The tax levy may be spread upon the respective real estate and personal property tax rolls of the city, village and town areas included in the district taxes, and shall not be included within any limitation on county or municipality taxes. Such moneys when collected shall be paid to the treasurer of such district.

(3) Service charges.

(a) The commission may establish service charges in such amount as to meet all or part of the requirements for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, extension, operation, maintenance, repair and depreciation of functions authorized by this subchapter, and for the payment of all or part of the principal and interest of any indebtedness incurred thereof.

(b) The district may charge to the state, county or municipality the cost of service rendered to any state institution, county or municipality.

(4) Borrowing. A district under this subchapter may borrow money and issue municipal obligations under ss. 66.0621 and 66.0713 and ch. 67.

(5) Borrowing; tax collection. After the issue of any municipal obligation under ch. 67, the commission shall, on or before October 1 in each year, certify in writing to the clerks of the several cities, villages or towns having territory in the district, the total amount of the tax to be raised by each such municipality, and upon receipt of such certificate the clerk of each such municipality shall place the same on the tax roll to be collected as other taxes are collected, and such moneys, when collected, shall be paid to the treasurer of the district.

(12) Exemption from levies. Lands designated as permanent open space, agricultural protection areas or other undeveloped areas not to be served by public sanitary sewer service in plans adopted by a regional planning commission or other area-wide planning agency organized under s. 66.0309 and approved by the board of supervisors of the county in which the lands are located shall not have property taxes, assessments or service charges levied against them by the district.

(13) Application of other laws. Section 66.0821 shall apply to all districts now or hereafter organized and operating under this subchapter.

History: 1971 c. 276; 1973 c. 172; 1977 c. 26; 1979 c. 110 s. 60 (13); 1981 c. 314; 1983 a. 24, 27, 207, 294, 538; 1987 a. 197, 403; 1993 a. 246; 1999 a. 150 s. 321; Stats. 1999 s. 200.13; 2017 a. 365 s. 111.

A metropolitan sewerage district cannot collect a service charge against a vocational school district. Green Bay Metropolitan School District v. VTAE District 13, 58 Wis. 2d 628, 207 N.W.2d 623 (1973).