66.0617(5)(b)(b) An ordinance enacted under this section may delineate geographically defined zones within the municipality and may impose impact fees on land development in a zone that differ from impact fees imposed on land development in other zones within the municipality. The public facilities needs assessment that is required under sub. (4) shall explicitly identify the differences, such as land development or the need for those public facilities, which justify the differences between zones in the amount of impact fees imposed.

66.0617(6)(6) Standards for impact fees. Impact fees imposed by an ordinance enacted under this section:

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(6)(g)(g) Except as provided under this paragraph, shall be payable by the developer or the property owner to the municipality in full upon the issuance of a building permit by the municipality. Except as provided in this paragraph, if the total amount of impact fees due for a development will be more than $75,000, a developer may defer payment of the impact fees for a period of 4 years from the date of the issuance of the building permit or until 6 months before the municipality incurs the costs to construct, expand, or improve the public facilities related to the development for which the fee was imposed, whichever is earlier. If the developer elects to defer payment under this paragraph, the developer shall maintain in force a bond or irrevocable letter of credit in the amount of the unpaid fees executed in the name of the municipality. A developer may not defer payment of impact fees for projects that have been previously approved.

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(7r)(7r) Impact fee reports. At the time that the municipality collects an impact fee, it shall provide to the developer from which it received the fee an accounting of how the fee will be spent.

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. Except as provided in this subsection, impact fees that are not used within 8 years after they are collected to pay the capital costs for which they were imposed shall be refunded to the payer of fees for the property with respect to which the impact fees were imposed, along with any interest that has accumulated, as described in sub. (8). Impact fees that are collected for capital costs related to lift stations or collecting and treating sewage that are not used within 10 years after they are collected to pay the capital costs for which they were imposed, shall be refunded to the payer of fees for the property with respect to which the impact fees were imposed, along with any interest that has accumulated, as described in sub. (8). The 10-year time limit for using impact fees that is specified under this subsection 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 subsection. For purposes of the time limits in this subsection, an impact fee is paid on the date a developer obtains a bond or irrevocable letter of credit in the amount of the unpaid fees executed in the name of the municipality under sub. (6) (g).

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 AnnotationAn 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 Ass’n of Greater Milwaukee v. Village of Germantown, 2005 WI App 103, 282 Wis. 2d 458, 698 N.W.2d 301, 04-1433.

66.0617 AnnotationSub. (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 Ass’n of Greater Milwaukee v. Village of Germantown, 2005 WI App 103, 282 Wis. 2d 458, 698 N.W.2d 301, 04-1433.

66.0617 AnnotationSubs. (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 Ass’n of Greater Milwaukee v. Village of Germantown, 2005 WI App 103, 282 Wis. 2d 458, 698 N.W.2d 301, 04-1433.

66.0617 AnnotationWhen 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 Ass’n v. Township of Oak Grove, 2010 WI App 96, 327 Wis. 2d 510, 787 N.W.2d 454, 09-2166.

66.0617 AnnotationThe 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, 358 Wis. 2d 610, 856 N.W.2d 546, 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: