75.54 Reassessment of taxes by order of court.

(1) In all actions in any court of this state in which either party seeks to avoid or set aside in whole or in part any assessment, tax or tax proceeding or reassessment, if the court is of the opinion, after holding a hearing, that, for any reason affecting the groundwork of the tax and all of the property in any taxation district, the assessment, tax or tax proceeding should be set aside, the court shall immediately stay all proceedings in the action and in all other actions affecting the assessment, tax or tax proceeding in the taxation district until a reassessment of the property in the taxation district can be made. The proper officers of the municipality constituting the taxation district or in which the district is located shall reassess the property in the taxation district in the manner specified in the statutes and levy upon the reassessed property the amount of taxes for the year in question. A reassessment under this subsection shall be made by the assessor of the taxation district or by the person the court appoints, and the assessment roll shall be submitted to and passed upon by the board of review in the manner and after the same notice as that which is given in the case of the original assessment.

(2)

(a) Upon completion of the review by the board of review under sub. (1), the clerk of the town, village or city in which the reassessed district is situated shall extend upon the assessment roll the taxes lawfully levied upon and apportioned to the property described in the tax roll for the year in question. The tax roll and the tax extended on the tax roll under this section are a public record and are prima facie evidence in any legal proceeding of all of the following:

1. The amount of tax justly chargeable against the party seeking to set aside or avoid the original assessment, tax or tax proceeding and the amount of tax upon all lands respecting which the action was brought.

2. The amount of tax justly chargeable against every other person and all other lands included in the tax roll for the year in question.

(b) The reassessment and tax roll as corrected under this section shall be completed and filed with the clerk of the taxation district within 90 days from the date of entry of the order for reassessment unless the court upon motion and cause shown extends the time.

(3)

(a) Upon completion and filing of the tax roll under sub. (2), notice of the reassessment shall be given by the clerk of the taxation district to the clerk of the court in which the action challenging the tax is pending. The clerk of court shall give notice of the reassessment to the attorneys for the parties to the action and to the attorneys in all other actions pending in which the validity of the original assessment may be involved.

(b) If any party to an action seeking to set aside or avoid the original assessment, tax or tax proceeding desires to contest the validity of a reassessment made under this section, that party shall, within 20 days after notice of the completion and filing of the reassessment and tax roll, file written objections to the reassessment or tax roll with the clerk of the court where the action is pending and serve a copy of those objections upon the attorney for the opposing party within 5 days after filing.

(c) Upon the filing and service of the written objections under par. (b), the court may direct that the issue raised by the objections be tried summarily by the court, which shall make an order sustaining or overruling the objections. If the objections are sustained, the court shall do one of the following:

1. Hold the reassessment or tax roll to be invalid and order subsequent reassessments of the tax in the manner and form provided in this section.

2. Determine and fix the amount of tax to be paid by the party or parties contesting the original assessment, tax or tax proceeding, and, for that purpose, the court may proceed to take any further evidence that is necessary to determine the tax.

(4)

(a) If under sub. (3) the reassessment and tax roll are held by the court to be regular and valid or if no objections to the reassessment and tax roll are filed, the court shall make an order requiring the party or parties contesting the original assessment, tax or tax proceeding to pay into court, for the use and benefit of the party entitled thereto, the amount that by the reassessment the contesting party or parties justly ought to pay. If the amount of tax imposed upon the property of the contesting party by the reassessment, or by the subsequent determination and order of the court, equals or exceeds the amount imposed on the property by the original assessment and tax roll, the party or parties contesting the validity of the assessment shall be adjudged to pay the costs of the suit. Otherwise, upon complying with the order of the court, the contesting party or parties are entitled to judgment with costs.

(b) No judgment rendered in any action under this section affects the validity of any tax against any person other than the parties to the action or affects property that is not described in the complaint in the action.

(5) A stay of proceedings and reassessment in accordance with sub. (1) shall be ordered in all cases in which a tax that has been reassessed by any county, town or village board or common council for one or more years is adjudged uncollectible or void for any reason affecting the groundwork of the tax so as to require a reassessment in order to determine the amount properly due. If the reassessed tax has been levied in different years it is not necessary to make separate assessment rolls for each year. The valuations for each year may be placed opposite the description of the property on the assessment roll in columns headed with the figures of the year, so that the valuations for each year of reassessments are distinct from the valuations for other years entered upon the tax roll. All of the provisions of this section apply to the making and completion of, and to objections and further proceedings in respect to, an assessment under this subsection. An assessment under this subsection shall be treated with respect to each year that it purports to embrace as if it were a separate reassessment roll for that year.

(5g) The value of property reassessed under this section shall be fixed, as nearly as possible, as of the day as of which the original assessment was made, and the rules for determining the value of the property are those provided by law.

(5r) This section applies to all actions.

(6) In any action under this section in which the evidence enables the court to determine, with reasonable certainty, the amount of taxes that were justly chargeable against the lands involved in the action, the court, may proceed to judgment without staying proceedings or ordering a reassessment, if it finds that it is for the best interests of all parties to the action that it should do so.

History: 1991 a. 316; 1997 a. 253.

When an initial assessment was unchallenged but annual percentage increases were voided, the “groundwork" of the tax was unaffected under sub. (1). Kaskin v. Board of Review, 91 Wis. 2d 272, 282 N.W.2d 620 (Ct. App. 1979).

The trial court may determine taxes under either s. 74.74 [now s. 74.39] or 75.54. Judicial determination of taxes is not an unconstitutional “levy." Fontana v. Village of Fontana-on-Geneva Lake, 107 Wis. 2d 226, 319 N.W.2d 900 (Ct. App. 1982).

Affirmed. 111 Wis. 2d 215, 330 N.W.2d 211 (1983).

The court erred in ordering an area reassessment without holding a hearing under sub. (1). Hemker v. Huggett, 114 Wis. 2d 320, 338 N.W.2d 335 (Ct. App. 1983).