66.0617(6)(d) (d) Shall be reduced to compensate for other capital costs imposed by the municipality with respect to land development to provide or pay for public facilities, including special assessments, special charges, land dedications or fees in lieu of land dedications under ch. 236 or any other items of value.

66.0617(7) (7) Low-cost housing. An ordinance enacted under this section may provide for an exemption from, or a reduction in the amount of, impact fees on land development that provides low-cost housing, except that no amount of an impact fee for which an exemption or reduction is provided under this subsection may be shifted to any other development in the land development in which the low-cost housing is located or to any other land development in the municipality.

66.0617(8) (8) Requirements for impact fee revenues. Revenues from each impact fee that is imposed shall be placed in a separate segregated interest-bearing account and shall be accounted for separately from the other funds of the municipality. Impact fee revenues and interest earned on impact fee revenues may be expended only for the particular capital costs for which the impact fee was imposed, unless the fee is refunded under sub. (9).

66.0617(9) (9) Refund of impact fees.

66.0617(9)(a)(a) Subject to pars. (b), (c), and (d), and with regard to an impact fee that is collected after April 10, 2006, an ordinance enacted under this section shall specify that impact fees that are collected by a municipality within 7 years of the effective date of the ordinance, but are not used within 10 years after the effective date of the ordinance to pay the capital costs for which they were imposed, shall be refunded to the current owner of the property with respect to which the impact fees were imposed, along with any interest that has accumulated, as described in sub. (8). The ordinance shall specify, by type of public facility, reasonable time periods within which impact fees must be spent or refunded under this subsection, subject to the 10-year limit in this paragraph and the extended time period specified in par. (b). In determining the length of the time periods under the ordinance, a municipality shall consider what are appropriate planning and financing periods for the particular types of public facilities for which the impact fees are imposed.

66.0617(9)(b) (b) The 10-year time limit for using impact fees that is specified under par. (a) may be extended for 3 years if the municipality adopts a resolution stating that, due to extenuating circumstances or hardship in meeting the 10-year limit, it needs an additional 3 years to use the impact fees that were collected. The resolution shall include detailed written findings that specify the extenuating circumstances or hardship that led to the need to adopt a resolution under this paragraph.

66.0617(9)(c)1.1. An impact fee that was collected before January 1, 2003, must be used for the purpose for which it was imposed not later than December 31, 2012. Any such fee that is not used by that date shall be refunded to the current owner of the property with respect to which the impact fee was imposed, along with any interest that has accumulated, as described in sub. (8).

66.0617(9)(c)2. 2. An impact fee that was collected after December 31, 2002, and before April 11, 2006, must be used for the purpose for which it was imposed not later than the first day of the 120th month beginning after the date on which the fee was collected. Any such fee that is not used by that date shall be refunded to the current owner of the property with respect to which the impact fee was imposed, along with any interest that has accumulated, as described in sub. (8).

66.0617(9)(d) (d) With regard to an impact fee that is collected after April 10, 2006, and that is collected more than 7 years after the effective date of the ordinance, such impact fees shall be used within a reasonable period of time after they are collected to pay the capital costs for which they were imposed, or they shall be refunded to the current owner of the property with respect to which the impact fees were imposed, along with any interest that has accumulated, as described in sub. (8).

66.0617(10) (10) Appeal. A municipality that enacts an impact fee ordinance under this section shall, by ordinance, specify a procedure under which a developer upon whom an impact fee is imposed has the right to contest the amount, collection or use of the impact fee to the governing body of the municipality.

66.0617 Annotation An association of developers had standing to challenge the use of impact fees. As long as individual developers had a personal stake in the controversy, the association could contest the use of impact fees on their behalf. Further, individual developers subject to the impact fees do have the right to bring their own separate challenges. Metropolitan Builders Association of Greater Milwaukee v. Village of Germantown, 2005 WI App 103, 282 Wis. 2d 458, 698 N.W.2d 301, 04-1433.

66.0617 Annotation Sub. (6) allows a municipality to impose impact fees for a general type of facility without committing itself to any particular proposal before charging the fees. The needs assessment must simply contain a good-faith and informed estimate of the sort of costs the municipality expects to incur for the kind of facility it plans to provide. Sub. (9) requires impact fees ordinances to specify only the type of facility for which fees are imposed. A municipality must be allowed flexibility to deal with the contingencies inherent in planning. Metropolitan Builders Association of Greater Milwaukee v. Village of Germantown, 2005 WI App 103, 282 Wis. 2d 458, 698 N.W.2d 301, 04-1433.

66.0617 Annotation Subs. (2) and (6) (b) authorize municipalities to hold developers responsible only for the portion of capital costs whose necessity is attributable to their developments. A municipality cannot expect developers' money to subsidize the existing residents' proportionate share of the costs. If impact fees revenues exceed the developers' proportionate share of the capital costs of a project, the municipality must return those fees to the current owners of the properties for which developers paid the fees. Metropolitan Builders Association of Greater Milwaukee v. Village of Germantown, 2005 WI App 103, 282 Wis. 2d 458, 698 N.W.2d 301, 04-1433.

66.0617 Annotation When the plaintiff home builders association alleged a town enacted an impact fee ordinance that disproportionately imposed the town's costs on development and the ordinance contained a mechanism for appealing these issues, but the association did not use it, the circuit court did not erroneously exercise its discretion when it concluded the association should have used the ordinance's appeal process before bringing its claims to court. St. Croix Valley Home Builders Association, Inc. v. Township of Oak Grove, 2010 WI App 96, 327 Wis. 2d 510, 787 N.W.2d 454, 09-2166.

66.0617 Annotation The primary purpose of a tax is to obtain revenue for the government as opposed to covering the expense of providing certain services or regulation. A "fee" imposed purely for revenue purposes is invalid absent permission from the state to the municipality to exact such a fee. A "fee in lieu of room tax" that did not help the city recoup its investment in a development but rather was a revenue generator for the city that was collected from the owners of condominiums in a specific development who chose not rent their units to the public was imposed without legislative permission and was therefore an illegal tax. Bentivenga v. City of Delavan, 2014 WI App 118, ___ Wis. 2d ___, ___ N.W.2d ___, 14-0137.

66.0619(1) (1) A municipality, in addition to any other authority to borrow money and issue its municipal obligations, may borrow money and issue its public improvement bonds to finance the cost of construction or acquisition, including site acquisition, of any revenue-producing public improvement of the municipality. In this section, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires:

66.0619(1)(b) (b) "Deficiency" means the amount by which debt service required to be paid in a calendar year exceeds the amount of revenues estimated to be derived from the ownership and operation of the public improvement for the calendar year, after first subtracting from the estimated revenues the estimated cost of paying the expenses of operating and maintaining the public improvement for the calendar year.

66.0619(2) (2) The governing body of the municipality proposing to issue public improvement bonds shall adopt a resolution authorizing their issuance. The resolution shall set forth the amount of bonds authorized, or a sum not to exceed a stated amount, and the purpose for which the bonds are to be issued. The resolution shall prescribe the terms, form and contents of the bonds and other matters that the governing body considers necessary or advisable. The bonds may be in any denomination of not less than $1,000, shall bear interest payable annually or semiannually, shall be payable not later than 20 years from the date of the bonds, at times and places that the governing body determines, and may be subject to redemption prior to maturity on terms and conditions that the governing body determines. The bonds may be issued either payable to bearer with interest coupons attached to the bonds or may be registered under s. 67.09. The bonds may be sold at public competitive sale or by private negotiation. Sections 67.08 and 67.10 apply to public improvement bonds, except insofar as they are in conflict with this section, in which case this section controls.