1997 Wisconsin Act 27

66.119 (3) (c) If the alleged violator makes a cash deposit and fails to appear in court, the citation may serve as the initial pleading and the violator shall be considered to have tendered a plea of no contest and submitted to a forfeiture, the penalty assessment imposed by s. 165.87, the jail assessment imposed by s. 302.46 (1), the crime laboratories and drug law enforcement assessment imposed by s. 165.755 and any applicable domestic abuse assessment imposed by s. 973.055 (1) not exceeding the amount of the deposit. The court may either accept the plea of no contest and enter judgment accordingly or reject the plea. If the court finds the violation meets the conditions in s. 800.093 (1), the court may summon the alleged violator into court to determine if restitution shall be ordered under s. 800.093. If the court accepts the plea of no contest, the defendant may move within 10 days after the date set for the appearance to withdraw the plea of no contest, open the judgment and enter a plea of not guilty if the defendant shows to the satisfaction of the court that the failure to appear was due to mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect. If the plea of no contest is accepted and not subsequently changed to a plea of not guilty, no costs or fees may be taxed against the violator, but a penalty assessment, a jail assessment, a crime laboratories and drug law enforcement assessment and, if applicable, a domestic abuse assessment shall be assessed. If the court rejects the plea of no contest, an action for collection of the forfeiture, penalty assessment, jail assessment, crime laboratories and drug law enforcement assessment and any applicable domestic abuse assessment may be commenced. A city, village, town sanitary district or public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district may commence action under s. 66.12 (1) and a county or town may commence action under s. 778.10. The citation may be used as the complaint in the action for the collection of the forfeiture, penalty assessment, jail assessment, crime laboratories and drug law enforcement assessment and any applicable domestic abuse assessment.

27,2207 Section 2207 . 66.119 (3) (d) of the statutes is amended to read:

66.119 (3) (d) If the alleged violator does not make a cash deposit and fails to appear in court at the time specified in the citation, the court may issue a summons or warrant for the defendant's arrest or consider the nonappearance to be a plea of no contest and enter judgment accordingly if service was completed as provided under par. (e) or the county, town, city, village, town sanitary district or public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district may commence an action for collection of the forfeiture, penalty assessment and, jail assessment and crime laboratories and drug law enforcement assessment and any applicable domestic abuse assessment. A city, village, town sanitary district or public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district may commence action under s. 66.12 (1) and a county or town may commence action under s. 778.10. The citation may be used as the complaint in the action for the collection of the forfeiture, penalty assessment and, jail assessment and crime laboratories and drug law enforcement assessment and any applicable domestic abuse assessment. If the court considers the nonappearance to be a plea of no contest and enters judgment accordingly, the court shall promptly mail a copy or notice of the judgment to the defendant. The judgment shall allow the defendant not less than 20 days from the date of the judgment to pay any forfeiture, penalty assessment and, jail assessment and crime laboratories and drug law enforcement assessment and any applicable domestic abuse assessment imposed. If the defendant moves to open the judgment within 6 months after the court appearance date fixed in the citation, and shows to the satisfaction of the court that the failure to appear was due to mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect, the court shall reopen the judgment, accept a not guilty plea and set a trial date.

27,2208 Section 2208 . 66.12 (1) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:

66.12 (1) (b) Local ordinances, except as provided in this paragraph or ss. 345.20 to 345.53, may contain a provision for stipulation of guilt or no contest of any or all violations under those ordinances, and may designate the manner in which the stipulation is to be made and fix the penalty to be paid. When a person charged with a violation for which stipulation of guilt or no contest is authorized makes a timely stipulation and pays the required penalty and pays the penalty assessment imposed by s. 165.87, the jail assessment imposed by s. 302.46 (1), the crime laboratories and drug law enforcement assessment imposed by s. 165.755 and any applicable domestic abuse assessment imposed by s. 973.055 (1) to the designated official, the person need not appear in court and no witness fees or other additional costs may be taxed unless the local ordinance so provides. A court appearance is required for a violation of a local ordinance in conformity with s. 346.63 (1). The official receiving the penalties shall remit all moneys collected to the treasurer of the city, village, town sanitary district or public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district in whose behalf the sum was paid, except that all jail assessments shall be remitted to the county treasurer, within 20 days after its receipt by him or her; and in case of any failure in the payment, the treasurer may collect the payment of the officer by action, in the name of the office, and upon the official bond of the officer, with interest at the rate of 12% per year from the time when it should have been paid. In the case of the penalty assessment imposed by s. 165.87, the crime laboratories and drug law enforcement assessment imposed by s. 165.755, the driver improvement surcharge imposed by s. 346.655 (1) and any applicable domestic abuse assessment imposed by s. 973.055 (1), the treasurer of the city, village, town sanitary district or public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district shall remit to the state treasurer the sum required by law to be paid on the actions so entered during the preceding month on or before the first day of the next succeeding month. The governing body of the city, village, town sanitary district or public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district shall by ordinance designate the official to receive the penalties and the terms under which the official shall qualify.

27,2210c Section 2210c. 66.184 of the statutes, as affected by 1995 Wisconsin Act 289, is amended to read:

66.184 Self-insured health plans. If a city, including a 1st class city, or a village provides health care benefits under its home rule power, or if a town provides health care benefits, to its officers and employes on a self-insured basis, the self-insured plan shall comply with ss. 49.493 (3) (d), 631.89, 631.90, 631.93 (2), 632.745 (2), (3) and (5) 632.746 (10) (a) 2. and (b) 2., 632.747 (3), 632.87 (4) and (5), 632.895 (9) and (10), 632.896, 767.25 (4m) (d) and 767.51 (3m) (d).

27,2210m Section 2210m. 66.184 of the statutes, as affected by 1997 Wisconsin Act .... (this act), is amended to read:

66.184 Self-insured health plans. If a city, including a 1st class city, or a village provides health care benefits under its home rule power, or if a town provides health care benefits, to its officers and employes on a self-insured basis, the self-insured plan shall comply with ss. 49.493 (3) (d), 631.89, 631.90, 631.93 (2), 632.746 (10) (a) 2. and (b) 2., 632.747 (3), 632.87 (4) and (5), 632.895 (9) and (10) to (13), 632.896, 767.25 (4m) (d) and 767.51 (3m) (d).

27,2213 Section 2213 . 66.30 (6) (g) of the statutes is amended to read:

66.30 (6) (g) At least 30 days prior to entering into a contract under this subsection or a modification or extension of the contract, the school boards of the districts involved or their designated agent shall file the proposed agreement with the department of education state superintendent of public instruction to enable the department state superintendent or state superintendent's designee to assist and advise the school boards involved in regard to the applicable recognized accounting procedure for the administration of the school aid programs. The department of education state superintendent shall review the terms of the proposed contract to ensure that each participating district's interests are protected.

27,2213m Section 2213m. 66.307 of the statutes is created to read:

66.307 Premier resort areas. (1) Definitions. In this section:

(a) “Infrastructure expenses" means the costs of purchasing, constructing or improving parking lots; access ways; transportation facilities, including roads and bridges; sewer and water facilities; parks, boat ramps, beaches and other recreational facilities; fire fighting equipment; police vehicles; ambulances; and other equipment or materials dedicated to public safety or public works.

(b) “Political subdivision" means a city, village, town or county.

(c) “Premier resort area" means a political subdivision whose governing body enacts an ordinance or adopts a resolution under sub. (2) (a).

(d) “Tourism-related retailers" means retailers classified in the standard industrial classification manual, 1987 edition, published by the U.S. office of management and budget under the following industry numbers:

1. 5331 — Variety stores.

2. 5399 — Miscellaneous general merchandise stores.

3. 5441 — Candy, nut and confectionary stores.

4. 5451 — Dairy product stores.

5. 5461 — Retail bakeries.

6. 5541 — Gasoline service stations.

7. 5812 — Eating places.

8. 5813 — Drinking places.

9. 5912 — Drug stores and proprietary stores.

10. 5921 — Liquor stores.

11. 5941 — Sporting goods stores and bicycle shops.

12. 5946 — Camera and photographic supply stores.

13. 5947 — Gift, novelty and souvenir shops.

14. 7011 — Hotels and motels.

15. 7032 — Sporting and recreational camps.

16. 7033 — Recreational vehicle parks and campsites.

17. 7948 — Racing, including track operation.

18. 7992 — Public golf courses.

19. 7993 — Coin-operated amusement devices.

20. 7996 — Amusement parks.

21. 7999 — Amusement and recreational services, not elsewhere classified.

(2) Premier resort area creation. (a) The governing body of a political subdivision, by a two-thirds vote of the members of the governing body who are present when the vote is taken, may enact an ordinance or adopt a resolution declaring itself to be a premier resort area if at least 40% of the equalized assessed value of the taxable property within such political subdivision is used by tourism-related retailers.

(b) A political subdivision that is a premier resort area may impose the tax under s. 77.994.

(c) If 2 or more contiguous political subdivisions that are premier resort areas each impose the tax under s. 77.994, they may enter into a contract under s. 66.30 to cooperate in paying for infrastructure expenses, in addition to any other authority they have to act under s. 66.30.

(d) The proceeds from a tax that is imposed under s. 77.994 and this subsection may be used only to pay for infrastructure expenses within the jurisdiction of a premier resort area.

(3) Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of a premier resort area is coterminous with the boundaries of a political subdivision whose governing body enacts an ordinance or adopts a resolution under sub. (2) (a) or with the boundaries of 2 or more political subdivisions that enter into a contract under sub. (2) (c).

27,2214 Section 2214 . 66.36 (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

66.36 (title) Municipal financing; clean water fund project program costs. (intro.) Subject to the terms and conditions of its financial assistance agreement, a municipality may repay financial assistance costs received from under the clean water fund program under ss. 281.58 and 281.59 by any lawful method, including any one of the following methods or any combination thereof:

27,2214b Section 2214b. 66.46 (2) (f) 2. a. of the statutes is amended to read:

66.46 (2) (f) 2. a. The cost of constructing or expanding administrative buildings, police and fire buildings, libraries, community and recreational buildings and school buildings, unless the administrative buildings, police and fire buildings, libraries and community and recreational buildings were damaged or destroyed before January 1, 1997, by a natural disaster.

27,2214h Section 2214h. 66.46 (6) (am) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:

66.46 (6) (am) 1. For a tax incremental district that is created after September 30, 1995, no expenditure may be made later than 7 years after the tax incremental district is created, and for a tax incremental district that is created before October 1, 1995, no expenditure may be made later than 10 years after the tax incremental district is created, except that, for a tax incremental district that is created before October 1, 1995, and which receives tax increments under par. (d), no expenditure may be made later than 12 years after the tax incremental district is created.

27,2214k Section 2214k. 66.46 (6) (c) of the statutes is amended to read:

66.46 (6) (c) Except for tax increments allocated under par. (d), (dm) or (e), all tax increments received with respect to a tax incremental district shall, upon receipt by the city treasurer, be deposited into a special fund for that district. The city treasurer may deposit additional moneys into such fund pursuant to an appropriation by the common council. No moneys may be paid out of such fund except to pay project costs with respect to that district, to reimburse the city for such payments, to pay project costs of a district under par. (d), (dm) or (e) or to satisfy claims of holders of bonds or notes issued with respect to such district. Subject to par. (d), (dm) or (e), moneys paid out of the fund to pay project costs with respect to a district may be paid out before or after the district is terminated under sub. (7). Subject to any agreement with bondholders, moneys in the fund may be temporarily invested in the same manner as other city funds if any investment earnings are applied to reduce project costs. After all project costs and all bonds and notes with respect to the district have been paid or the payment thereof provided for, subject to any agreement with bondholders, if there remain in the fund any moneys that are not allocated under par. (d), (dm) or (e), they shall be paid over to the treasurer of each county, school district or other tax levying municipality or to the general fund of the city in the amounts that belong to each respectively, having due regard for that portion of the moneys, if any, that represents tax increments not allocated to the city and that portion, if any, that represents voluntary deposits of the city into the fund.

27,2214n Section 2214n. 66.46 (6) (d) 2m. of the statutes is amended to read:

66.46 (6) (d) 2m. No tax increments may be allocated under this paragraph later than 20 30 years after the last expenditure identified in the project plan of the tax incremental district, the positive tax increments of which are to be allocated, is made if the district is created before October 1, 1995, except that in no case may the total number of years during which expenditures are made under par. (am) 1. plus the total number of years during which tax increments are allocated under this paragraph exceed 27 37 years.

27,2214p Section 2214p. 66.46 (6) (d) 4. of the statutes is amended to read:

66.46 (6) (d) 4. This paragraph does not apply after January August 1, 2002 2016.

27,2214r Section 2214r. 66.46 (6) (dm) of the statutes is created to read:

66.46 (6) (dm) 1. After the date on which a tax incremental district pays off the aggregate of all of its project costs under its project plan, but not later than the date on which a tax incremental district terminates under sub. (7) (am), a planning commission may amend under sub. (4) (h) 1. the project plan of such a tax incremental district to allocate positive tax increments generated by that tax incremental district to another tax incremental district created by that planning commission in which soil affected by environmental pollution exists to the extent that development has not been able to proceed according to the project plan because of the environmental pollution.

2. Except as provided in subd. 2m., no tax increments may be allocated under this paragraph later than 16 years after the last expenditure identified in the project plan of the tax incremental district, the positive tax increments of which are to be allocated, is made.

2m. No tax increments may be allocated under this paragraph later than 20 years after the last expenditure identified in the project plan of the tax incremental district, the positive tax increments of which are to be allocated, is made if the district is created before October 1, 1995, except that in no case may the total number of years during which expenditures are made under par. (am) 1. plus the total number of years during which tax increments are allocated under this paragraph exceed 27 years.

3. This paragraph applies only to the following cities:

a. A city with a population of at least 10,000 that was incorporated in 1950 and that is in a county with a population of more than 500,000 which is adjacent to one of the Great Lakes.

b. A city with a population of at least 55,000 that was incorporated in 1853 and that is in a county that was incorporated in 1840.

4. This paragraph does not apply after January 1, 2002.

27,2214u Section 2214u. 66.46 (7) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

66.46 (7) (a) That time when the city has received aggregate tax increments with respect to such district in an amount equal to the aggregate of all project costs under the project plan and any amendments to the project plan for such district, except that this paragraph does not apply to a district whose positive tax increments have been allocated under sub. (6) (d), (dm) or (e) until the district to which the allocation is made has paid off the aggregate of all of its project costs under its project plan.

27,2216 Section 2216 . 66.462 of the statutes is created to read:

66.462 Environmental remediation tax incremental financing. (1) Definitions. In this section:

(a) “Chief executive officer" means the mayor or city manager of a city, the village president of a village, the town board chairperson of a town or the county executive of a county or, if the county does not have a county executive, the chairperson of the county board of supervisors.

(b) “Department" means the department of revenue.

(c) “Eligible costs" means capital costs, financing costs and administrative and professional service costs for the investigation, removal, containment or monitoring of, or the restoration of soil or groundwater affected by, environmental pollution, including monitoring costs incurred within 2 years after the date on which the department of natural resources certifies that environmental pollution on the property has been remediated, except that for any parcel of land “eligible costs" shall be reduced by any amounts received from persons responsible for the discharge, as defined in s. 292.01 (3), of a hazardous substance on the property to pay for the costs of remediating environmental pollution on the property and the amount of net gain from the sale of the property by the political subdivision.

(d) “Environmental pollution" has the meaning given in s. 292.01 (4), except that “environmental pollution" does not include any damage caused by runoff from land under agricultural use.

(e) “Environmental remediation tax increment" means that amount obtained by multiplying the total city, county, school and other local general property taxes levied on a parcel of real property that is certified under this section in a year by a fraction having as a numerator the environmental remediation value increment for that year for that parcel and as a denominator that year's equalized value of that parcel. In any year, an environmental remediation tax increment is “positive" if the environmental remediation value increment is positive; it is “negative" if the environmental remediation value increment is negative.

(f) “Environmental remediation tax incremental base" means the aggregate value, as equalized by the department, of a parcel of real property that is certified under this section as of the January 1 preceding the date on which the department of natural resources issues a certificate certifying that environmental pollution on the property has been remediated in accordance with rules promulgated by the department of natural resources.

(g) “Environmental remediation value increment" means the equalized value of a parcel of real property that is certified under this section minus the environmental remediation tax incremental base. In any year, the environmental remediation value increment is “positive" if the environmental remediation tax incremental base of the parcel of property is less than the aggregate value of the parcel of property as equalized by the department; it is “negative" if that base exceeds that aggregate value.

(h) “Hazardous substance" has the meaning given in s. 292.01 (5).

(i) “Period of certification" means a period of not more than 16 years beginning after the department certifies the environmental remediation tax incremental base of a parcel of property under sub. (4) or a period before all eligible costs have been paid, whichever occurs first.

(j) “Political subdivision" means a city, village, town or county.

(k) “Taxable property" means all real and personal taxable property.

(2) Use of environmental remediation tax increments. A political subdivision that develops, and whose governing body approves, a written proposal to remediate environmental pollution on property owned by the political subdivision may use an environmental remediation tax increment to pay the eligible costs of remediating environmental pollution on property that is not part of a tax incremental district created under s. 66.46 and that is owned by the political subdivision at the time of the remediation and then transferred to another person after the property is remediated, as provided in this section. No political subdivision may submit an application to the department under sub. (4) until the joint review board approves the political subdivision's written proposal under sub. (3).

(3) Joint review board. (a) Any political subdivision that seeks to use an environmental remediation tax increment under sub. (2) shall convene a joint review board to review the proposal. The board shall consist of one representative chosen by the school district that has power to levy taxes on the property that is remediated, one representative chosen by the technical college district that has power to levy taxes on the property, one representative chosen by the county that has power to levy taxes on the property that is remediated, one representative chosen by the political subdivision and one public member. If more than one school district, more than one technical college district or more than one county has the power to levy taxes on the property that is remediated, the unit in which is located property that has the greatest value shall choose that representative to the board. The public member and the board's chairperson shall be selected by a majority of the other board members at the board's first meeting. All board members shall be appointed and the first board meeting held within 14 days after the political subdivision's governing body approves the written proposal under sub. (2). Additional meetings of the board shall be held upon the call of any member. The political subdivision that seeks to act under sub. (2) shall provide administrative support for the board. By majority vote, the board may disband following approval or rejection of the proposal.

(b) 1. The board shall review the written proposal and the statement described under sub. (4) (a). As part of its deliberations the board may hold additional hearings on the proposal.

2. No written application may be submitted under sub. (4) unless the board approves the written proposal under sub. (2) by a majority vote not less than 10 days nor more than 30 days after receiving the proposal.

3. The board shall submit its decision to the political subdivision no later than 7 days after the board acts on and reviews the written proposal.

(c) 1. The board shall base its decision to approve or deny a proposal on the following criteria:

a. Whether the development expected in the remediated property would occur without the use of environmental remediation tax incremental financing.

b. Whether the economic benefits of the remediated property, as measured by increased employment, business and personal income and property value, are insufficient to compensate for the cost of the improvements.

c. Whether the benefits of the proposal outweigh the anticipated environmental remediation tax increments to be paid by the owners of property in the overlying taxing districts.

2. The board shall issue a written explanation describing why any proposal it rejects fails to meet one or more of the criteria specified in subd. 1.

(d) If a joint review board convened by a city or village under s. 66.46 (4m) is in existence when a city or village seeks to act under this section, the city or village may require the joint review board convened under s. 66.46 (4m) to exercise the functions of a joint review board that could be convened under this subsection.