chapter 74docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/1983/74.pdf74.80 interestt a nd penalty on...

2057 TAX COLLECTION 74 .025

COLLECTION OF TAXES

7401 L i en o f ta xes on land, and on ti mbe r ; levy7402 Notice of collect ion74 .025 Timely p ayment .74 03 Semiannual pa yme nt of taxes74031 Instalment tax paym e nt,'74035 Taxe s paid in a d vance .

'74:04 Paymen t in o rders74 .045 U se of scrip74 05 Officers not to buy orders .7406 Payme nt o n part; undivided interests; noti ce .74 . 07 How tax paid .74. 08 Blank tax receipt s ; us e thereof. .74 09 Comparis on o f stub b ook with tax ro ll s ; b o ok as

e vi denc e .' 74 .10 Co llect ion .74 .11 Actio n to col l ect tax on per son a l p roperty .74 , 12 ` Actio n ' of d ebt or attachment t o collect tax ,74 :13 ' Acti o n for collection of ta xes against pub l ic

uti lit ies74 135 Taxes, cancellat ion of74 . 14 Procedure74 .1 6 Treasurer's receipts, how countersigned74 17 Delinquent taxes returned74 18 F o rm of return.74 19 Lo c al treasurer's, a ffida vi t, forfeiture ; collection of

delinquent taxes7 4 20 '- Certificate of delinquent taxes7421 Satisfaction o f treas u rer's bond .

'74.. 22 Pena lty for failure t o settl e t axes7 4.23 . Warrant; levy; breach o f bond .7424 Fal se o r neg ligent return .74 25 Damage s74 26 Payment s by county t r eas u re r74 27 Penalties upon countie s .'74. . 28 Payme nt s to lo c al treas ur er s74. 29 Delinquent personal tax .74 .; 30 Powers of shei iFf; a c ti o n s ; a tt achment ;

ga rnishment74 31 Charging tax to municipalit y .7432 Taxes, interes t; paym ent o n s hare o r p art to county

treasurer ; no tice74325 Delinquent taxes ; pay ment in instalments74 33 Rec o rd of delinquent lands ; n o tice of s ale

74.01 Lien of taxes on land , and on timber;levy. A l l taxes levied upon any tract or parcel ofland and all costs, charges and interest thereonshall` be a lien thereonn unti l paid except asotherwise provided by law; and all costs andexpenses which shall accrue jointly or in theaggregate on two or more tracts or parcels shallbe apportioned in equal parts upon such severaltracts or parcels ; and a ll taxes levied upon anylands and all costs, charges and interest thereonshall also be a l ien on all logs, wood and timbercut upon such lands subsequent to the first dayof January in thee year in wh i ch such taxes .are .levi ed; and it shall be the duty of the towntreasurer, or if such taxes be returned uncol-l ected, of the county treasurer, to pursue andlevy upon such logs, wood or timber, whereverthe same may be, and collect such taxx by distressand sale of the same in the manner provided by

74 .025 Timely payment . Except as providedin ss . 74 .03 (10) (e) and 74 . .'79. (3), whenever inthis chapter or in ch . 7S a payment is required tobe made by a taxpayer on or before a certaindate, payment shall be considered timely madeif mailed in a properly addressed envelope withpostage prepaid, which envelope is postmarked

CHAPTER 74

7 4345 Error in notice; s ubsequen t sale..74 36 Affidav i t s of publi ca ti o n and p osting .7438 Office r s not to be interested.74 .39 Sale of real estate.74 40 Who to be purc haser ; o rd er of sale7441 Pay ment74 42 When treasurer to bu y .74 43 Cities biddin g in at ta x s ales .7444 County may purchas e o n tax sales ; c utting co unt y

timber, pen alty .'74 .45 Mis tak e n o t to affect sa l e .74455 Corr ection of tax certifica tes .74456 Correcti o n of tax s ale cer tificates74 46 Certificate of sa le; ma y be assig ned and rec ord ed .7447 Pap e rs, stub bo o k and r oll s to b e fil ed ,74.4 9 Sale afte r i njunctio n d issol ved .'74 .. 50 Disqualification of officers74 . 5 7 Land s acquired by s t at e are no t s ubjec t t o tax sale74 58 Per so nal l i abil ity for delinqu e nt taxes a nd othe r

cos ts7459 Application of ch apter to cities..7460 Neglect to elect officers; h o w taxes collected7461 Mailin g statement of t ax es due .7462 Taxe s; payment by gr antor and grantee74,63 Rights of occupant who has paid t ax es .7 4 64 County to refund unju s t tax74 :65 Cancellati o n of sales74 66 L oss b y off icers .7 4 67 Rights of lie n hold er wh o pays taxes7468 Record of notice o f lien.74 .69 Discha rge of li en ; right s of l ie no r.74 ,695 . L ienholde r, acquisition of pr i or lien .'14. .70 Lienholder may avoi d tax :74 71 Assess ment s may be settled f o r ; effect o f release74 72 Neglect to le vy taxes .74 73 Recovery of un lawful taxes and ovec assessme nt s .7474 Reassessment of plai nt iffs taxes74 . 7'7 Paid by munic i pal i ty ; lien .74 .78 Recover y of taxes paid by wrong sc hool distr ict74 .79 In s talment tax p ay ment s74 .8 0 Interes tt and p enalty on overd ue and delinque nt

taxes

law for the distress and sale of personal prop-erty for the payment of taxes .

History : 1977c 29s 1646(3)

74 . 02 - Notice of collection . The treasure r ofeach town, city or village on the receipt of thetax roll for the current year, shall forthwith postnotices in .3 or more public places in such town,city or village, that the tax roll for the same is inhis hands for collection . Such notice shallspecify how and when taxes must be paid .

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of'those real estate taxes or special assessmentsshall become due and shall be collected, to-gether with unpaid personal property taxes, onor before the last day of February by the town,city or village treasurer .. All those taxes andassessments remaining unpaid on March 1 aredelinquent and shall be returned to the countytreasurer as provided in s 74 ..17 .. Such taxesshall be collected by the county treasurer withinterest and penalty as provided under s 74 80from the preceding January 1 :

(5) LOCAL.. TREASURER'S SETTLEMENT (a) Onor before March 15 and on or before the 15thday of each month following, the town, city orvillage treasurer shall settle for all collectionsmade by him on taxes and assessments . .

(b) He shall pay to the proper treasurer allcollections on taxes and assessments levied pur-suant to ch 88 (or ch. 88 or 89, .1965 stats , as itexisted prior to January 1, 1965) and all collec-tions on special assessments of every character,or he shall retain such if'levied by the town, cityor village of which he is treasurer .

(d) 1 . Out of the remaining general propertytaxes collected the town, village or city treasurershall first set aside and pay to the state treasurerthe full amount due on state trust fund loansunder s 24 61 (3), except loans to school dis-tricts, levied on the property in the town, city orvillage, unless the governing body of the munic-ipality has extended the date of'paymentof trustfund loans under s 24 ..'70 (5) .

2. The town, village or city treasurer nextshall set aside and pay over to each appropriateschool district treasurer the full amount due onstate trust fund loans to the school district .

3 The town, city or village treasurer shallthen pay to each metropolitan sewerage districttreasurer, school district treasurer and voca-tional, technical and adult education districttreasurer the proportions of the levyy of thedistrict as the balance of the general propertytaxes collected in the town, city or village bearsto the total general property tax levy therein forall purposes included in the tax roll, exclusive oflevies for state trust fund loans, state taxes andstate special charges.. In cities operating schoolsunder`:subch II of ch . 120 the treasurer shallretain the proportion levied for schoolpurposes .

4: The town ; village or city treasurer' shall payto the county treasurer a like proportion of thecounty school tax, other county taxes andcounty special charges, and shall retain a similarproportion for the town, city or village .

5 The county treasurer shall remit state taxesand state special charges to the state treasurer asprovided in s . '74.26, and likewise remit thecounty school moneys as provided by law .:

74.03 Semiannual payment of taxes . (1) PER-SONALTY TAXES ANNUAL., REALTY SEM IANNUAL . .Commencing with the 1943 taxx roll, all personalproperty taxes shall be paid on or before the lastday of February and all real estate taxes may bepaid in 2 instalments,, as providedd in thissection .

(2) SEMIANNUAL PAYMENTS . Eachand everyperson or corporation charged with real estatetaxes on a tax roll in the hands of the town, cityor village treasurer shall pay to such treasurerthe full amount thereof'on or before the last dayof February next following the receipt of'suchtax roll by such treasurer, or he may pay thesame in 2 equal instalments as follows

(a) The first instalment shall be paid to thetown,: city or village treasurer on or beforeJanuary 31 The governing body of any town,village or city may by resolution adopted bytwo-thirds of its membershipp not later thanDecember 15 of the preceding year, fix a laterdate for the payment of the first instalment,which may be at a date not later' than the lastday of'Febcuary . The resolution shall remain ineffect for each subsequent year until repealed bythee governing body by, xesolution adopted by amajority of its membership A repealing resolu-tion shall not take effect until 75 days after itsadoption .

(b) The second instalment shall be paid to thecounty treasurer, except as provided in subs . (6)and (10), without interest on or before July 31next succeeding .

(c) Such first instalment shall not be less than$50 if'the total tax exceeds $50, nor less than thetotal' amount of the tax if the same does notexceed $50 In towns this paragraph shall applyto the total tax levied against any one personand not to individual parcels or descriptions ..

(3) SPEC I AL. ASSESSMENTS, DRA INAGE TAXES,The payment of special assessments levied forpublic improvements and benefits may be made'in 2 instalments ; as provided in sub. (2), ifauthorized by a~two-tfiirds vote of the town or,village board or city council No other specialassessments ; including service charges, or taxesand assessments levied pursuant to ch . 88 (orch> 88 or 89, 1965 statsr, as it existed prior toJanuary 1, 1965) shall be subject to payment ininstalments .

( 4) DEL INQUENT FIRST INSTAL'MENI ; I NTEREST ;

PENALTY If the first instalment of the real estatetaxes or special assessments so charged is notpaid on or before-.January 3 1 ; the whole amount

74.025 TAX COLLECTION

before midnight of the last date prescribed forthe making of the payment and rece i ved by theproper official to whom directed within 5 daysof the prescribed date .

History : 1977 c 418 ; 1979 c 158

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city or village purposes (including special as-sessments not returned in trust) that the balanceof the general taxes and special assessmentscollected in suchh town, city or village bears tothe total balancethen due on alll general leviesand special assessments , except those . referredto in par's . (b), (c) and (d) The county treasurershall retain like proportions of the balances dueon county school tax , other county taxes andcounty special charges . . The county treasurershall remit state taxes and state special chargesto the . state treasurer' as provided in s '74 26, andlikewise remit the amount retained for ' countyschool taxes as provided by law , .

(g) The county board of any county mayauthorize and direct its , county treasurer tosettle in full for all taxes, or special assessments,or both, within one month after the return ofsuch taxess and special assessments pursuant tos : 74 .. 17 . : The county treasurer shall settle in fullfor all taxes levied by a metropolitan seweragedistrict created under ss 66 88 to 66 ..9188 withinone month after the return of the taxes under s .74 .17 Such settlements shall be made withinterest for special assessments levied for publicimprovements and benefits and for taxes andassessments levied pursuant to ch . 88 (or ch . 88or 89_1965 stats ., as it existed prior to January

1 1 , 1965). Settlements forall other taxes andspecial assessments shall be made withoutinterest .

( 9) SUBSEQUENT SETTLEMENTS BY COUNTYTREASURER . (a) Subsequent to the settlementprovided in sub . . (8), the county treasurer shallon the twentieth dayy of' each month makepayments to the : treasurer of the state and ofeach town, city or village out of the proceeds ofthe delinquent taxes and special assessments ofsuch town , city or village, other than thosereferred to in par . . . (h) , collected by him up toand including the last day of the precedingmonth which have not been included in a previ-ous settlement, until the state and each town ,city ;, village or school district shall have receivedin full their levies for that year on the propertyof such town ; city or village. Such paymentsshall be madee by the count y treasurer out of ' thetaxes collected for each particular town, city orvillage in the order of preferences set forth inpays (b:) to (g )

(b) He shall :first set asidee and pay to theproper treasurers any. balancess due on statetrust fund loans .

(c) He shall next set aside and pay to the statetreasurer the balances due on state taxes andstate special charges in the order named . . In theevent that the amounts so set aside and appliedon state taxes and state special charges areinsufficient to pay such taxes and charges in fullby November 20; the county treasurer shall

(s) DELINQUENT 2ND INSTALMENT; INTEREST ;PENALTY Except as provided in s . ' 74 . . 025, the2nd instalment of real estate taxes and speci a lassessments remaining unpaid on August 1shall be delinquent and shall be subject tointerest and penalty as provided under s , 74 80from the preceding January 1 until paid or untilthe property upon which such taxesaie levied issold of the next tax sale as provided by law .

(7) DISTRIBUTION OF INTEREST COLLECTED (b)All interest collected by the county treasurer onspecial assessments levied for public improve-ments and benefits, which are held in trust forcollection , shall be paid over to the respectivetown, city or village treasurer :

(c) All interest collected by the county trea-surer- on taxes and assessments levied under ch .88 (or ch 88 or 89, 1965 stats , as it existed priorto ; January 1 ;' 1965) shall belong to the respec-tive, drainage dist ricts, except as provided in s .7403(8),

(d) All inte rest collected by the county trea-surer on other taxes and special assessmentsboth prior and subsequent to the tax sale shallbe retained by the county treasurer for the useof the county , except as otherwise required by s

" 75 :01 :(8) FIRST SETTLEMENT BY COUNTY TREASURER,

(a) On or before August 20 , the county treasurershalll settle for all collections on delinquent andpostponed taxes and spec ial assessments madeby him up , to and including July -31 .

(b) He shall pay over' to the proper treasureror credit to the proper drainage district allcollections on drainage taxes and assessmentsauthorized by ch , 88 (or ch 88 or 89 , 1965 stats ,as it existed prior to January 1,, 1965) .

(c) He shall pay to the treasurer of thepolitical subdivision levying the same all collec-tions on special assessments leviedd for publicimprovements and benefits which are held intrust for collection .

(d) He shall retain for the use of the county allpayments made on special assessments levied,under s. 27065

(f) Out of the remaining proceeds of thegeneral taxes and - special assessments collectedfor each town, city or village, the county _trea-surer, shall f irst set aside and pay to the statetreasurer the balance due on state trust fundloans : The county treasurer shall then pay toeach town , city , village ,, school district or voca-tional , technical and adult ' education districttreasurer or to the treasurer ofa metropolitansewerage district created under, ss , 66 88 to66 . 918 such proportions of the balances due onlevies for school purposes, for vocational , tech-nical and adult education districts, for metro-politan sewerage distr'ict purposes and for town,



tax toll, and all taxes and charges collected onthe city tax toll shall be retained by the citytreasurer . Immediately upon receipt of thecredits under s 79 10, the city treasurer shallpay to the county treasurer the total tax creditsapplicable to the duplicate county tax roll

(c) The amounts and timee of payment ofinstalments of city taxes; special assessmentsandd charges in the city tax roll shall be asprovided in the charter of such city .

(d) The governing body of any city thatretains and collects its delinquent real estatetaxess may by ordinance extend the time forpayment without interest of all or a portion ofthe personal property taxes levied by the city fora period of time not exceeding 9 months fromthe January 31 following the tax levy yearPersonal property taxes, at the option of thetaxpayer, may be,paid in 10 equal instalments,each of which shall be paid on or before the lastday of each month from January through Octo-ber if on or before January 31 of the year duringwhich the tax becomes due the taxpayer has firstpaid to the city treasurer the full amount of allpersonal property taxes for all purposes exceptcity purposes . The taxpayer shall exercise theoption to pay the taxes in 10 equal monthlyinstalments by making the first instalment pay-ment on or before January 31 of the year inwhich the taxes become due . . If one instalmentonly is not paid on the due date it shall not bedeemed delinquent or, to render' the unpaidbalance delinquent, but the instalment shall becollected, with interest and penalty as providedunder s . 74 80, from the day following the duedate If a 2nd instalment is not paid on the duedate, the city treasurer shall declare thee unpaidbalance delinquent and the taxes shall be col-lected, with interest and penalty as provided'under s . 74 . .80, from the preceding January 1 Ifthe final payment is not made in the monthfollowing the due date, the delinquent unpaidbalance shall be collected, with interest andpenalty as provided under s . 74 80, from thepreceding January L

(e) A payment shall be considered timelymade under this subsection if mailed by thetaxpayer in a properly addressedd envelope andreceived by the city treasurer with postage dulyprepaid, which envelope is postmarked beforemidnight of the last date prescribed for makingthe payment or.if'payment is received by the citytreasurer by mail or otherwise within 5 days ofthe prescribed date .

(11 ) APPLICAT ION OF SETTLEMENT PROVISIONS ..

The settlement provisions of ss '74 . .0 .3 (9) and74.031 (11) shall apply only to taxes of 1942 andsubsequent years All settlementss for collec-tions on taxes of 1941. . shall be governed by theprovisions of chapter 426, laws of'] 933, and all

advance at that time the balance on state for-estry taxes and state special charges . There-after, he shall retain for county purposesamounts set aside pursuant to this paragraph .

(d) He shall next set aside and remit asprovided by law the balance on the countyschool tax .. The county board of any countymay authorize and direct its county treasurer topay the entire balance due on aid to commonschools subsequent to the settlement providedin sub . . (8), in which case the amount set asidepursuant to this paragraph shall be retained bythe county treasurer for county purposes .

(e) He shall next retain for the county thebalance due on county taxes levied for- socialsecurity under s .. 49 .. 19 ,

(f) The county treasurer ' shall next pay to thetreasurer of each school district and vocational ,technical and adult education distr i ct the bal-ance due on school levies and vocational, tech-nical and adult education district levies .. Thecounty treasurer shall then pay to the treasurerof each town , city or village the balance due ontown , city or village taxes and special assess-ments other than those referred to in par (h) .

(g) He shall finally retain any balance due onaccount of other county taxes and charges .

(h) All collections during the preceding cal-endar month on special assessments for publicimprovements and benefits which are held intrust for collection and drainage taxes andassessments authorized by ch 88 (or ch .. 88 or89 , 1965 stats , as it existed prior to January 1 ,1965) shall be paid to the proper treasurers orcredited to the proper drainage districts on the20th day of each month .. All such collections ontaxes and assessments levied pursuant to s .27 . 065 shall be retained by the county treasurer .

(10) MILWAUKEE In any city authorized byits charter to sell land for ' nonpayment of citytaxes , the following provisions relating to thetime and place of payment and returns andsettlements of ', the taxes and charges in theduplicate county tax roll shall apply in order toconform as nearly as may be to the procedureprescribed and followed under such charter , butotherwise the provisions of this section shallgovern :

(a) On or before February 25, the city trea-surer shall return the duplicate county tax rollto the county treasurer . The, delinquent citytaxes and special assessments shall be collectedby the city treasurer as provided in the cit ycharter , except that the city treasurer shall cer-tiFyall delinquent taxes levied by a metropolitansewerage district that is created under ss . 66 88to 66 : 918 to the county treasurer for collection .

(b) On or before February 25 , the city trea-surer shall pay to the county treasurer all taxesand charges collected on the duplicate county

74.03 TAX COLLECTION 2060


settlements for collections ' on taxes prior ' to1941 shall be governed by the provisions of lawexisting on October 1, 1941 :

History : ' 1971 c. 1 25 s 521 ; 1 971 c 154, 262 ; 307, 314;1973c. 14 7; 1975c . 39, 211 ; 1977 c .. 174 ; 1979c . 34, 158,221 ;1981 c. 20, 167, 169, 282, 317 ; 1981 c 390 ss 119, 252 ; 1983 a

395, 538275,395,538Cross Ref'er 'ence: . . See 74 79 relative to instalment payment

of taxes in MilwaukeeSecond tax payment may be made next secular day when

July 31 is on Saturday and office hours unofficial 60 Atty .Gen , 411 ,

Inter est charges under this section may not be waivedeven when reassessment is not completed until shot tly beforedue date 68 Atty Gen .' 163

74.031 ' Instalment tax payment. (1) COMMONCOUNCIL TO PROVIDE FOR I The common councilof any city other than a city authorized by itscharter to sell land for nonpayment of citytaxes, the board of trustees of any village or thetown board of any town shall have power byordinance to ' provide for the pa yment of realestate taxes or special assessments in 3 or moteinstalments as provided by this section, . Exceptin cities that purchase their own tax collectionsupplies ; : the ordinance and any repeal oramendment thereof shall be enacted not laterthan August 15 of the tax levy year' to which thesame is first applicable . As to any city autho-rized . by its charter to sell land for nonpaymentof city taxes s : 74 . 79 shall apply ._ ( 2) PERSONALIY TAXES ANNUAL , REALTY INiivsraLMENrs . Except in any city authorized bythis charter to sell land for nonpayment of citytaxes ; all personal property taxes shall be paidon or before the last day of February . Everyperson or corporation charged with real estatetaxes in the hands of the city , village or towntreasurer shall pay to such treasurer the fullamount thereof on or before the last day ofFebruary next following the receipt of ' sueh taxroll by such treasurer, or he may pay the same ininstalments pursuant to this section and theordinance enacted thereunder .

(3) INSTALMENTS DUE, PENALTIES, Such ordi-nance may postpone the time for the paymentof 'a portion of the real estate taxes assessed insuch city,, village or town for not to exceed 6months from January 31 so that real estate taxesmay be paid to the city, village or, town treasurerin 3 or more instalments beginning on or beforeJanuary 31 , each to be due on the last day of ' themonth designated, under the conditions -herein-after ' specified, including the fixing of minimumpayments . . On any instalment date a taxpayermay pay the balance of the taxes due . Suchordinance may establish penalties for failure topay instalments when due . Such ordinancemust provide that not less than an aggregate ofone-half' of any tax paid in instalments shall bedue and payable on or before April 30 .

(4) SPECIAL. ASSESSMENTS ; DRAINAGE TAXES .

Such ordinance may permit the payment ofspecial improvement assessments levied forpublic improvements and benefits , in the samenumber-' of instalments and on the same condi-tions authorized for general real estate taxes , .No other special assessments , or taxes andassessments levied pursuant to ch 88 (or ch 88or 89, 1965 stats. , as it existed prior to . January1 , 1965) shall be subject to instalment payment . .

(5) DELINQUENT FIRST INSTALMENT ; INTEREST,

When the first instalment of the real estate taxesor special assessments so charged is not paid onor before January 31 ;the whole amount of suchreal estate taxes or special assessments shallbecome due and payable and shall be collected ,together with unpaid personal property taxes,on or before ' the last day of February by thetown, city or village treasure s All such taxesand special. assessments remaining unpaid onMarch 1 shall be delinquent and shall be col-lected by the town , city or village t r easurer withinterest at the rate of one percent per month or,fraction thereof from .January 1 next preceding .

(6) OTHER DELINQUENT INSTALMENTS INTEREST . If ' any taxes, the payment of which shallhave been thus postponed , shall not be paid infulll on or before the final datee fixed - in suchordinance, the unpaid portionn of such post-poned taxes shall be delinquentt and such taxesshall be collected together with interest thereonat one percent per.r month or fraction thereoffrom January 1 preceding in lieu of accumu-lated penaltiess imposed pursuant to sub , (3) .Any such taxes remaining delinquent on August1 shall be returned to the county treasurer forcollection as provided in sub . (9) .

(6a) METHOD OF COMPUTING INTEREST ONINSTALMENT PAYMENTS In either of the casesprovided for by subs . (5) and (6), payments maybe made on accountt of the delinquent taxes andspecial assessments in instalments of not lessthan . $20 and in any multi ple of $5 . The portionof ' sueh payment to be applied as principal shallbe ascertainedd by dividing the amount of thepayment by the sum of one plus a figure which isthe product of 01 multiplied by the number ofmonths of delinquency, counting any part of amonth as a full month . Such amount of princi-pal shall be deducted from the amount offeredin payment and the remainder thereof shall bethe interest accrued from January 1 next suc-ceeding the year of the tax levy on that portionof" the tax which is offered to be paid , Interest onany new balance of principal sum : shall befigured f'torn January l next succeeding the year 'of the tax levy ,

(7) COLLECTION BY BANKS, SAVINGS AND LOAN

ASSOCIATIONS OR CREDIT UNIONS . . The treasurer



of any city, village or town , subject to approvalby the governing body , may designate banks ,savings and loan associations and credit unionsto which taxpayers may pay instalments ; oftaxes and may provide for the remuneration ofthe banks, savings and loan associations andcredit unions .. Notice of this fact with the namesand location of' the banks, savings and loanassociations and credit unions shall be given bypublication as a class 1 notice , under ch . 985 . . Areceipt of any bank , savings , and loan associa-tion or credit union designated in the noticeshall protect the taxpa yer to the same extent as areceipt signed by the treasurer in person

(8) LOCAL. TREASURER'S SETTLEMENTS,MONTHLY (a), On or before the fifteenth day ofeach month succeeding the first payment dateas provided pursuant to sub . (3) , the city , villageor town treasurer sh all settle for all collectionsmadee by him on the tax roll up to and includingthe last d ay of the preceding month and subse-quent to the per iod included in any previoussettlement,

(b) He shall pay to the proper treasurer allcollections on taxes and assessments levied pur-suant to ch 88 (or ch 88 or 89 , 196 stats ., as itexisted prior to January 1, 1965) and all collec-tions on special assessments of every character ,or he shall retain such if levied by the city ,village or town of which he is treasurer

(d) ' 1 Out of the remaining gene ral propertytaxes collected the town , village or city treasurershall first set aside and pay to the state treasurerthe full amount due on state trust fund loansunder s 24 61 (3) , except loans to school dis-tricts, levied on the property in the city , villageor town .

2 . The town, village or city treasurer nextshall set aside and pay over to each appropriateschool district treasurer the full amount due onstate trust fund loan s to the schoo l distr ict . .

3 The city, village or town treasurer shallthen pay to each metropolitan sewerage districttreasurer, school district treasure r and voca-tional, technical and adult education districttreasurer the proportions of the levy of thedistrict as the balance of the general propertytaxes collected in the city , village or town bearsto the total general property tax levy therein forall purposes included in the tax roll , exclusive oflevies for state trust fund loans, st a te taxes andstate special charges , In cities operating schoolsunder subch : II of ch ; 120 the treasurer shallretain the proportion levied for schoolpurposes .

4 The town, village or city shall pay to thecounty treasurer a like proportion of the countyschool tax, other county taxes and county spe-cial charges and shall retain. a similar propor-tion for the city , village or town ,

5 The county treasurer shall remit such statefund loans, statee taxes and statee special chargesto the state treasurer as provided in s 74 26 andlikewise remit the county .y school moneys onMarch 22 and August 20 as provided by law .

( 9) DELINQUENT TAXES RETURNED . The city,village or town treasurer shall retain the tax rolland make collections thereon to and includingJuly 31 . On or before August 15 he shall returnthe tax roll to the county treasurer as providedby s . 74 . . 17 .. The county board of any countymay authorize and direct its county treasurer tosettle in full for all taxes , or special assessments ,or both, within one month after' the return ofsuch taxes and special assessments to thecounty The county tceasurer, shall settle in fullfor all taxes levied by a metropolitan seweragedistrict created under ss . 66,88 to 66 .. 91 .8 withinone month after the return of ' the taxes under s .74 . . 17, Such settlements shall be made withinterest for special assessments levied for publicimprovements and benefits and for taxes andassessments levied pursuant to ch 88 (or ch 88or 89, 1965 stats ,, as it existed prior to January1 , 1965) , Settlements for all other taxes andspecial assessments shall be made withoutinterest .

(10) COLLECTION BY COUNTY . All taxes re-turned as delinquent shall be collected by thecounty treasurer, with interestt andd penalty asprovided under s , 74 .. 80 , and all actions andproceedings commenced and pending for thecollection of any personal property tax sh a lll beprosecuted and judgments in them shall becollected by the county treasurer, Any city,village :: or town mayy retain for collection thedelinquent personal property taxes as providedby s . 74 . . 19, in which case such taxes shall beincluded as fully paid in arrivingat the propor-tions to be paid in the final settlement undersub , (8) .

( 11 ) COUNTY TREASURER'S SETTLEMENTS (a)

The county treasurer shall on the 20th day ofeach month make payments to the treasurer ofthe state and of each city , village or town out ofthe proceeds of the delinquent taxes and specialassessments of such city , village or town, otherthan those referred to in par . (h) , collected byhim up to and includingg the last day of thepreceding month which have not been includedin a previous settlement , until the state and eachcity;: village, town ; vocational , technical andadult, education district or school district hasreceived in full their levies for that year on theproperty of such city, village ox town . . Suchpayments shall be made by the county treasurerout of the taxes collected for each particularcity, village or town in the order of preferenceset forth in . pars . (b) to (g).

74 :031 TAX COLLECTION 2062


(b) The county treasurer shall first set asideand pay to the state treasurer any balances dueon state trust fund loans held by the county ..

(c) Heshall next set aside and pay to the statetreasurer the balances due on statee taxes andstate special charges in the order named . In theevent that the amounts so set aside and appliedon state taxes and state special charges areinsufficient to pay such taxes and charges in fullby November 20, the county treasurer shalladvance at that time the balance on state for-estry taxes and state special charges . There-after, he shall retain for county purposesamounts set aside pursuant to this paragraph .

(e) He shall next retain for the county thebalance due on county taxes levied for socialsecurityy under s 49 . .19 ..

(f) The county treasurer shall next pay to thetreasurer of each school district and vocational,technical and .adult education district the bal-ance due on school levies The county treasurershall then pay to the treasurer of each town, cityor village the balance due on city, village ortown taxes and special assessments other thanthose referred to in par . (h) .

(g) He shall finally retain any balance due onaccount of other county taxes and charges .

(h) All collections during the preceding cal-endar month on special assessments for publicimprovements and benefits, which are held intrust for collection, and drainage taxes andassessments authorized by ch. 88 (or ch . 88 or89, 1965.stats . ; as it existed prior to :January 1,1965) shall be paid to the proper treasurers orcredited to the proper drainage districts on the20th day of'each month. All such collections ontaxes and assessments levied pursuant to s .2'7 .065 shall be retained by the county treasurer,

(12) DISTRIBUTION O F INTEREST COLLECTED .

(a) All interest and penalties, if any, collected bythe city, village or town treasurer on real estateand personal property taxes and special assess-ments before the return of the tax roll as pro-vided in sub:. (9) shall be retained by suchtreasurer

(c) All interest collected by the county trea-surer on special assessments, levied for publicimprovements and benefits, which are held intrust for collection, shall be paid over to therespective city, village or town treasurer .

(d) All interest collected by the county trea-surer on taxes and assessments levied under ch88 (or ch 88 or 89, 1965 stats ., as it existed priorto January 1, 1965) shalll belong to the respec-tive drainage districts, except as provided insub: (9) .

(e) All interest collected by the county trea-surer on other taxes and special assessmentsboth prior and subsequent to the tax sale shallbe retained by the county treasurer for the use

74 .035 Taxes paid in advance . (1) The gov-erning body of any town, village or city mayauthorize the treasurer thereof' to accept pay-ment of taxes in advance, in instalments of notless than ten dollars and in any multiple of fivedollars ; provided, that such treasurer, prior tothe determination of the tax roll, shall acceptsuch deposits on the anticipated tax on any tractor description of taxable property onlyy to theextent of eighty per cent of the previous year'stax on such property . Such payment may beaccepted between the last date for the paymentof taxes and the succeeding third Monday inDecember. Deposits upon taxes on any prop-erty made under this section, upon completionof the tax roll, shall be credited to the taxassessed against such property, Funds so de-posited by taxpayers are hereby declared to betrust funds and no part of such funds shall beavailable for expenditure by such city, town or,village until . such taxes become due ..

(2) The part-time treasurer of any town, cityor village may designate banks, savings andloan associations and credit unions to whichtaxpayers may pay the advance deposits.. Anotice containing the names and locations ofthe designated banks, savings and loan associa-tions and credit unions shall be published as aclass 1 notice, under ch . 985 . . A receipt from adesignated bank, savings and loan associationor credit union shall protect the taxpayer to thesamee extent as a receipt signed by the treasurerin person :

Hi story: 1983 a 368

74.04 Payment in orders . Town, city andvillage orders shall be receivable for taxes in thetown, city or village where issued, and shall beallowed the treasurer, on settlement of suchtaxes; and county orders, scrip and accruedinterest and jurors' certificates shall be receiv-able for taxes in the county where issued, andshall be allowed the treasurer on settlement ofcounty taxes with the county treasurer ; but notown, city or village treasurer, shall receive or-

2063 TAX COLLECTION 74.04

of the county, except as otherwise required by s .' 75 . . 01 . .

(13) OTHER STATUTES MODIFIED .: Wheneverany city , village or town shall provide for theinstalment payment of real estate taxes pursu-ant to this section, then s '74 . 03 shall not beapplicable to such city, village or town but shallbe superseded by the provisions of' this section . .Any other' conflicting statutory provision ishereby modified to the extent required to makethis section operative

History: 1971 c. 154, 262, 307; 197 3 a 147 ; 1975 c . 198 ,211 ; 1979 c 221 ; 1 981 c 20, 167, 1 69, 282, 317; 1981 c 390 s252; 1983 a . 275, 368, 395


74 .07 How tax paid . When any land has beenassessed more than once for the same year thetreasurer shall collect only the tax justly duethereon and shall make return to the countytreasurer of the balance as a double assessment,and he shall be credited therefor by suchtreasurer ;

74 .08 Blank tax receipts ; use thereof . (1) Thecounty clerk of each county, unless a differentofficial is designated by the county board, shallprepare and cause to be printed and furnishedto each town, city and village treasurer of thecounty a book of tax receipts for each currentyear, with stubs to be a duplicate of the receipts .Every town, city and village treasurer shall useonly the receipts so furnished, Notwithstandingany other' provisions of law, all city, town andvillage treasurers, except where the informationhas already been placed in the receipt by thecounty, shall enter in each receipt given by thecounty clerk for the payment of'taxes the nameof the person, firm, company or corporationpaying the same, the date thereof; the descrip-tion of the property, the valuation and theaggregate amount of'taxespaid and the total ofthe rates from which the total amount of'the taxwas computed . The aggregate amount ofstate,county; local, school and other taxes shall becarried in a single column on the tax receipt andthere shall be printed or stamped on the taxreceipt the separate percentage of each levy tothe gr'oss' levy,., and the rate of taxes levied forstate ; county, local, school and other purposes .The separate percentage of each levy to thegross levy need not be printed or stamped on the

74.06 Payment on part ; undivided interests ;notice . . The treasurer shalll receive the tax onany part of any lot or parcel of land or on anyundivided share: or interest therein which theperson paying the tax will clearly define ; and ifthe tax on the remainder of such lot or parcel ofland shall remain unpaid such treasurer shallreturn such remainder and the tax due thereonas delinquent to the county treasurer ; and if thepart on which the tax is so paid shalll be anundivided share the person paying the sameshall state to the treasurer thee name of theowner of such share, that it may be excepted incase of salee for the tax on the remainder, forwhich purpose thee treasurer shall enter thename of'such owner and a specification of'suchshare in his account of uncollected taxes ; andthe balance of the taxes on any such land shall


dens in payment for taxes to a larger amountthan the town , city or village taxes included inhis tax roll, exclusive of all taxes for schoolpurposes , nor county orders , scrip and accruedinterest and jurors ' certificates to a greateramount than the . county tax included therein .Countyy scrip and accrued interest thereon shallbe accepted by the county . issuing the same inpayment of all delinquent county taxes wherethe county holds the tax certificate , and anysuch county may , when authorized by itscounty board, acceptt such scrip in payment ofany delinquent taxes where the county holds thetax certificate.

74 . 045 Use of scrip. Whenever any city, vil-lage or town shall have an interest in the delin-quent general property taxes for any prior year,the city, village or town may retain any countyscrip received pursuant to s 74,04 and may usesuch scripp as any other holder thereof, with theconsent of'the county board, provided that theamount of such scrip to be retained shall notexceed the share of such municipality in thedelinquent taxes.

74.05 Officers not to buy orders. No town,city, village or county treasurer, or other town,city, village or county officer shall, either di-rectly or indirectly, purchase or receive in ex-change or in payment for taxes or otherwise, inany manner whatever ; any county, city, villageor town order, or any demand against hiscounty, city, village or town for- a claim allowedby the proper board or council during his termof office .e for a less amount than that expressedon the face of such order or demand ; and anysuch person so offending shall for each offenseforfeit not less than twenty-five dollars normore than two hundred and fifty dollars .

2064

be a lien on the residue only of ' such lot or parcelof land; provided , that when an application ismade to the treasurer for the payment of thetaxes : upon any divided portion of any part orportion of any lot or parcel of land , suchtreasurer shall give notice of such proposedpayment to any person other than the applicanthaving a recorded ownership, mortgage , or landcontract interest in such land which may beaffected by such application and afford him ahearing. Such notice shall be given in themanner provided in s . 75 12 for the giving ofnotice of application for tax deed , and the costsof giving such notice shall be paid by the personmaking such application .. The time for suchhearing shall be fixed at not less than 10 daysafter the service of such notice has been com-pleted The treasurer shall thereafter determinethe true proportion of ' taxes chargeable to thepart or portion on which the taxes are sought tobe paid, and the amount so found shall bedeemed to be the amount of the taxes charge-able thereto . .


property may be released by the payment o f thetaxes and charges for which the same is liable tobe sold ; if' the purchase money on such sale shallnot be paid at such time as the treasurer shallrequire he may again , in his discretion , exposesuch property for sale or sue in his name ofoffice the purchaser for the purchase money ,and recover the same with costs and ten percentum damages ..

(3) RETURN OF SURPLUS; PROCEEDINGS IF NO

SALE. If the property so levied upon shall be soldfor more than the amount of the tax and coststhe surplus shall be returned to the ownerthereof; and if' it cannot be sold for want ofbidders the treasurer shall return a statement ofthe fact and return the property to the per sonfrom whose possession he took the same ; andthe tax , if unsatisfied , shall be collected in thesame manner as if ' no levy had been made..

74.11 Action to collect tax on personal prop-erty. (1) How BROUGHT, If the treasurer i sunable to collect any tax assessed upon personalproperty the treasurer may file with the circuitcourt of the county an affidavit showing thatthere is such tax upon personal propert y, theamount thereof ' and the name of the personagainst whom assessed , thatt the treasurer hasdemanded payment thereof and is unable tocollect the same.. Chapter '799 shall apply so faras applicable the judge of the circuit courtshall thereupon issue a summons directed tosuch person , commanding the person to appearforthwith to answer under oath and show causewhy the person does not pay the tax . . Suchsummons may be served by the treasurer or anyconstable in the county on the person to whomthe summons is directed as required for theexercise of personal jurisdiction under ch, 801 ina civil action in a court of record ; upon itsappearing by the affidavit of the officer or ,.person serving the summons that the same wasduly served upon such person to whom it wasdirected , and that the person has failed orneglected to appear before the judge for 24hours after the service of the summons , thejudge shalll issue a warrant , directed to thesheriff or any constable of the county , com-manding the sheriff' or constable to forthwitharrest and bring such person before the judge .

(2) JURISDICTION ; COMPLAINT; REMOVAL; AR-REST . The judge before whom such person ap-peais or is brought shall enter the c ause underss . 799 .. 0'7 and 799 .. 10, as an action wherein . thetown, city or village in which the tax is assessedshall be plaintiff and the person against whomthe tax is assessed shall be defendant ; a nd theaffidavit of the treasurer shall be deemed thecomplaint ,

74.09 Comparison of stub book with taxrolls ;, book as evidence . Every such treasurershall each year compare the stub book of re-ceipts With the tax roll of his town, city or villageas to the description of land or other propertyupon which taxes have or have not been paidand as to the amount of moneyy received fortaxes ; :; and the treasurer shall certify on suchstub book that he has made such comparison,and that the stub book and taxx roll correspond ;and the stub book thus certified shall be re-turned with the tax roll to the county treasurer,who may destroy such duplicate receipts andstub books after the taxes recorded therein haveoutlawed pursuant to s . 75 .20 .. Such stub bookor a certified copy thereof shall have the sameeffect as evidence as the original receipt .

74 . 10 Collection . (1) BY DISTRESS . I n case anyperson shall refuse or neglect to payy the taximposed upon him the treasurer may in hisdiscretion levy the same by distress and sale ofany goods and chattels belonging to such per-son,, wherever thee same may be found within histown, city or village; and if a sufficient amountof such property cannot be found in such town,city or village the treasurer may levy the sameby distress and sale of the goods and chattelsbelonging to such person, wherever the samemay be found in the county or in any adjoiningcounties, and shall receive therefor the feesallowed by law to constables for levy and sale ofgoods upon execution

(2) NOTICE AND SALE . The treasurer shall givepublic notice of the time and place of such saleat least six days previous thereto by advertise-ment, containing a description of the propertyto be sold, to be posted up in three public placesin the town where the sale is to be made .. Thesale shall be at public auction in the daytimeand the property sold shall be present ; such

2065

tax receipt if the municipality includes thatinformation on other material that is mailedwith the tax receipt ..

(2) Such receipts shall be signed by the trea-surer and a duplicate thereof made upon thestubb thereof ' to be left in the book , and afternoting the payment of such taxes upon the taxroll he shall deliver said receipt to the personentitled thereto. No city, county, village ortown treasurer' or tax collector shall collect orreceive any taxes in any room where alcoholbeverages are sold , given away or otherwisedisposed of Any person violating this provi-sion shall be punished by a fine of ' notless than$25, nor more than $100, or by imprisonment inthe county jail not less than 10 days nor morethan 30 days .

History: 1973 c 90; 1981 c . 79 s 17 ; 1983 a , 275 .

TAX COLLECTION 74 .11


court of appeals . Prior to filing a notice ofappeal, a defendant shalll execute and deliver tothe circuit court judge an undertaking to thetown, city or village, with one or more suretiesapproved by the judge, conditioned to pay thejudgment the court of appeals may renderagainst him or her in the action .

(6) EXECUTION UPON JUDGMENT The districtattorney of the county shall appear for theplaintif'f' whenever so requested by the countytreasurer . Execution shall issue upon the judg-ment against the property of all the defendantsin such judgment, and no property belonging tothe defendant in the action may be exempt fromseizure and sale on the execution .

(7) SUPPLEMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.. If execu-tion in any such action upon a judgment isreturned unsatisfied in whole or in part, theproper treasurer may institute proceedings sup-plementary to execution to collect the judg-ment. All laws applicable to supplementaryproceedings upon other judgments are madeapplicable to the judgment specified in thissubsection .

(8) EFFECT OF JUDGMENT . A final judgment inthe action' upon the ground that the defendanthad no personal property liable to taxation atthe time the assessment was made or that thedefendant is not justly liable to pay any portionof such tax shall be a bar to any further proceed-ings of any kind for the collection of the tax . .Every such judgment against the defendant,fixing the amount of tax which he or she oughtjustly to pay, shall be conclusive as to the extentof his or her liability . In fixing the amountwhich the defendant ought justly to pay, allirregularities, mistakes and errors in the assess-ment and proceedings which do not affect thejustice and equity of the tax or some partthereof shall be disregarded

History: Sup, Ct Order, 67 W (2d) 774 ; 1975 c . 218 ; 1977c . 1 87 ; 1977 c 4 49 s 497 ; 1979 c . 32 s 92 (16); 1979 c 175 s50 ; 1983, a 219

Judicial Council Note, 1983: Sub . (5) is amended to re-place the appeal dead l ine of 20 days after entry of judgmentby th e standard time specified in s 80804 (1), stars,, forgreater uniformity . Langu age requiring the trial judge to cer-tify the record and specifying its contents is repealed as un-necessary in light of s . 809 15, stars, [Bill 151-S]

74.12 Action of debtt or attachment to collecttax . (1) In addition to the other remedies pro-vided in this chapter an action of debt or anaction of attachment shall lie in the name of thetown, city or village, and, after the tax is re-turned as delinquent, in the name of the county,for any tax assessed against any personn uponpersonal property remaining unpaid after Feb-ruary 28 . Summons or warrants in such actionshall issue at the request of the treasurer of'thetown, city, village or county except that thewarrant of attachment shall be issued on the

(3) P ROCEEDINGS ; COSTS; EXECUTION . Whenthe defendant appears or is brought before thejudge before whom the proceedings were com-menced , or if the cause has been removed toanother judge, the judge shall cause t he defend-ant to be examined on oath , and hear thetestimony of any witnesses or other evidencepresented by either party upon thee followingquestions :

(a) Whether the defendant had any personalproperty liable to taxation at the t i me the as-sessment was made

(b) Whether he has money or property, realor personal , of any description sufficient to paysuch tax or any part thereof.

(c) Whether he is liable for the payment ofsuch tax or any part thereof; and if any of thequestions are established in the negative thedefendant shall be discharged with his costs; butif the defendant refuses to answer relevant ques-tions put to him or , if he fails to establish eitherof the questions in the negative , judgment shallbe entered against the defendant for the amountof ' such tax which he ought to pay, with costs ofsuch proceedings No stay of execution shall beallowed on any such ,judgment except in case ofappeal ; and no property of such defendant shallbe exempt from levy and sale upon execution ..The judge shall reduce the examination- of thedefendant and of all witnesses examined byeither party to writing , and cause the same to besigned by the persons examined ..

(4) TRANSCRIPT OF JUDGMENT ; LIEN ; EXECU-TION, The treasurer may file a transc ript ofjudgment rendered against the defendant in anysuch action in the office of the c l erk of thecircuit court of any county , and it shall bedocketed by such clerk in the same manner asother transcripts of circuit court judgments, andwhen so docketed it shall be a lien on all the realestate of the defendant in every county in whichit is docketed .. The clerk of any circuit court inwhich any such transcript is filed and docketedmay issue execution thereon , and no real estateor personal property of the defendant shall beexempt fr om seizure and sale on such execution ;andupon the sale of any real estate of thedefendant by virtue of such execution the sheriffselling it shall make , execute and deliver to thepurchaser thereof a deed thereto, and the de-fendant shall havee no right to redeem the realestate after the sale thereof; and such deed shallbe absolute to conveyy all the interest of thedefendant in such real estate so sold , and thesheriff shall proceed in the sale of the real estateas upon sale on execution in other cases

(5) APPEAL AND RETURN . Except as providedin sub ; (8) , either party may, within the timeperiod specified in s 808 04 (1) , appeal to the

74.11 TAX COLLECTION 2066Electronically scanned images of the published statutes.

making and filing of an affidavit by the propertreasurer that such taxes are delinquent . Suchsummons or warrant shall be served as requiredfor the exercise of personal jurisdiction underch. 801 .. . Such summons or warrant shall statethat it is issued -for the collection of a tax and,judgment may be entered and execution issuedas provided in this chapter,

( 2) If'the treasurer of any town, village or cityfiles with any circuit court an affidavit, statingthat a certain person, naming him or her, owns,possesses or is in charge of certain personalproperty duly assessed in the municipality, andthat the person is about to depart permanentlyfrom the municipality or state, or is about todispose of the property, or is about to removethe property from the, municipality, the judgeshall issue a warrant of'attachment as providedin sub, (1) If the person has departed perma-nently from thee municipality or state, has dis-posed of the property or has removed the prop-erty from thee municipality ;, the personalproperty tax matures ; an action of debt ordistress liess and s . 74.11 applies . . The actionshalLbe in the name of'the municipality for, itscollection Prior . to filing the affidavit, thetreasurer shall make a demand upon the personfor; payment of the tax and if' not collected, shallthen file the affidavit under this section . .

(3) Taxes collected in the manner provided bythis section prior to the time they become dueshall be figured at the rate of the previous year,but in the event that such rate shalll exceed therate for the current year any excess collecteddue to such difference in rate shall be refundedwith interest at the rate of 6 perr cent per year onsuch excess covering the period from the date ofcollection to the first day of March next follow-ing such collection

Hi story : Sup.. Ct Order, 67 W (2d) 774; 1977 c 449; 1979c 110s 60(13) ,

74.13 Action for collection of taxes againstpublic utilities .' In addition to the other reme-dies provided by law for the collection of'taxesagainst real estate, an action of debt shall lie inthe name of'the town, city or village, and, afterthe taxis returned as delinquent, in thename ofthe county, for any tax heretofore or hereafterlevied upon and extended against the propertyof'an,y public service corporation : as defined in s .1$4;01;' which property is subject to taxationlike the property-of individuals, and which taxremainss unpaid after January 31 in any yearSummons in such action shall issue at therequest of the treasurer of'the town, city, villageor county, as the case may be ; shall be served asprovided in s : 801 11, and suchh action shall besubject to all of thee rules of law and practice inthis statee applicable to actions of debt .. The

74.14 Procedure . In any action brought pur-suant to s . 74 .:13 it shall be sufficient to entitleplaintiff to judgment in said action to allege andprove that the tax was regularly levied andextended upon the tax roll and that the same hasnot been paid ; provided, that the defendantmay defend against such action by first payingthe amount of' the tax with interest, penaltiesand charges into the county ; town, city orvillage treasury. The defendant in such actionshall be entitled to recover judgment for theamount, if any, so paid in excess of the amountthe court shall finally determine it ought to havepaid on thee property involved in said action,with interest from the date of such payment ..Payment of any judgment : so recovered by thedefendant, shall be made forthwith by the trea-surer of any such county, town,, city or village,upon presentation of a certified copy thereof ;without other ox further order . He shall pie-serve said copy of'such,judgment as his warrantfor such payment and shall require the satisfac-tion of'record of'such judgment upon the mak-ing of such payment . . .

74.16 Treasurer 's receipts , how counter -signed. Whenever any town, city or village


complaint in such action shall be served with thesummons .. Judgment in such actionn shall beentered and execution issued thereon as in otheractions of debt. The judgment shall bear inter-est at the rate of 12°/a per year from the date ofentry until paid .History : Sup Ct . Order, 67 W (2d)'774; 1975 a 211, 422 ;

1979 c . 110 s 60 (13)

74.135 Taxes , cancellation of . After the taxtoll shall have been thus delivered to the trea-surer, it shall riot be lawful for the governingbody of any town, city or village to remit, annulor cancel any tax specified therein, or a portionthereof', except in the following cases :

( 1 ) When a clerical error has been made in thedescription of'the property or in the extensionof the tax . .

(2) When improvements on lots were consid-ered in making the assessment roll, where theimprovements did not exist at the time fixed bylaw for making the assessment .

(3) When the property is exempt by law fromtaxation .

( 4) When a person has been assessed the sameyear for the same property in more than oneward or place :

( 5) When a double assessment has beenmade ;

(6) When a palpable error had been made inthe assessment, in which case the error may becorrected .


74.19 Local treasurer 's affidavit, forfeiture ;collection of delinquent taxes . (1) The town,city or village treasurer shall then make anaffidavit to be annexed to such statement,before the county treasurer or before any officerauthorized to administer oaths, that the factsset forth in said statement are correct, that thesums therein returned as unpaid taxes have notbeen paid, and that he or she has not, upondiligent inquiry, been able to discover anygoods or chattels belonging to the personscharged with such unpaid taxes whereon he orshe could levy thee same, which statement andaffidavit shall be filed with the county treasurer ;and he or she shall be allowed by the countytreasurer, in settlement per diem and mileage asestablished by the county boardd for each miletraveled bothh ways to deliver the same..

(2) If any actions have been commenced byhim for the recovery of any personal propertytax he shall also state that fact and what pro-ceedings have been had therein . And any town,city or village treasurer who shall render hisreturn without duly making, annexing, sub-scribing and making oath to the affidavit asabove required shall forfeit $100 ; and everycounty treasurer who shall receive such return,without first requiring such return to be dulyverified by affidavit as above required shallforfeit $200 ; and neither said town, city orvillage nor county treasurer shall be permittedto offer such unverified statement in evidence inany settlement made by them with their respec-tive boards of supervisors or auditing officers,nor in any action brought against them on theirrespective official bonds, nor in any prosecutionagainst them for embezzlement..

(3) (a) All taxes returned delinquent andpostponed and all delinquent taxes or instal-ments certified under s . '74 . .03 (10) (a) shall becollected by the county treasurer, with the inter-est thereon; and all actions and proceedingscommenced and pending for the collection ofany personal property tax shall be thereafterprosecuted and judgments therein be collectedby the county treasurer.

(b) Any town, city or village may retain forcollection the delinquent personal propertytaxes by including the same as fully .paid ., inarriving at the, proportions to be paid as pro-vided in s . 74 03 (5) All laws applicable to thecollection of personal property taxes prior tothe return of'the tax roll to the county treasurershall apply to the collection of the delinquentpersonal property, taxes retained .,

(4) Upon charging back the delinquent per-sonal property taxes pursuant to s . 74 31, anytown, city or village may collect such taxesunder ss, 74 10,74 11 and 74 12 by commencing

74.17 Delinquent taxes returned. The trea-surer shall on or before the dates prescribed inss . 74,03 (5) and 74 .0,31 (9), return the tax roll tothe county treasurer together with a statementof the taxes so remaining unpaid, distinguish-ing, by setting down separately, postponed realestate, delinquent real estate and delinquentpersonal property, with a full and perfect

description of such real estate from his tax doll,and the name of the person taxed, if thereinspecified, and by setting down separately allpublic lands which are held on contract and alllands mortgaged to the state, and submit thesame to the county treasurer; he shall alsoinclude in such statement a description of anyland doubly assessed and the amount of taxthereon, andd also the specification and entryrequired by s '74 .06 . The county treasurer shallcarefully compare such statements, when sub-mitted, withh the tax roll and ascertain that it iscorrect The taxes included in such return shallbe accepted by the county treasurer for collec-tion pending settlement thereon as provided inss 74. .03 .(8), 74..0.3 (9) and 74 0.31 (11) When-ever the county.: treasurer shall discover anyerror or inadequacy in the description of anyparcel of land on the tax roll he may at any timebefore giving notice of the sale of' lands fordelinquent taxes, correct such description onthe tax coll . When such correction is made thecounty treasurer shall make a marginal note inthe tax roll opposite such correction statingwhen made and subscribing his name thereto . .

County treasurer has duty to collect personal property taxret urned delinquent by the town, but may charge tax back tothe town after one year Col lection met hods discussed'. 63Arty Gen 204

24 :18 Form of return . The return of'the town,city or village treasurer to the county treasurerof delinquent taxes shall be made in the formprescribed by the department of revenue pursu-ant to s . 70 .09


treasurer shall pay any money to the countytreasurer- such county treasurer shall deliver tohim duplicate receipts for the amount of moneyso paid, specifying in such receipts the sum paid ,date of payment and on what account the sameis paid ; and the town , city or village treasurershall present such receipts to the county clerk ,who shall countersign one of said receipts andreturn the same to such treasurer , and shallretain and safely keep the other in his office ; andno receipt of the county treasurer given to atown , city or village treasurer for money paid bysuch town , city or village treasurer shall be anyevidence of such payment in favor of such town ,city or village treasurecunless the same be firstcountersigned by the county clerk,

2068Electronically scanned images of the published statutes.

74.20 Certificate of delinquent taxes . Thecounty treasurer shall, at the time the town, cityor village treasurer returns the delinquent andpostponed taxes aforesaid ; make and deliver tosuch town, city or village treasurer and thecounty clerk a certificate of the amount of thedelinquent and postponed taxes so returned bysuch town, city or village treasurer, specifyingseparately the amount delinquent and post-poned on real estate and the amount delinquenton personal property ; and no county treasurershall indorse the bond of such town, city orvillage' treasurer, filed in his or her office, assatisfied and paid until such certificate is deliv-ered to the county clerk and filed in his or heroffice as specified in this section

History: 1975 c 324, 4 21

74 . 21 Satisfaction of treasurer ' s bond. Uponfiling this certificate by the town, city or villagetreasurer and upon payment to the countytreasurer of'`tfie full amount of state trust fundloans held by the county, unless extended unders 24.70"(5), and the proportionate amounts ofstate taxes, state special charges, county schooltax, other county taxes and county specialcharges, the county treasurer shall endorse thebond of the town, city or village treasurer, filedin his or her office, as satisfied and paid . Thisendorsement operates as a full discharge of'thetown,'city or village treasurer and his of hersureties from the obligations of the bond unlessit afterwards appears that the return of thetown, city or village treasurer was false ; inwhich case the bond shall continue in force, andthat treasurer and his or her sureties are liable tobe prosecuted thereon for all deficiencies andfor all damages occasioned by the false return .

His tory : 1979 c 221 ; 198 1 c : 169-

74 . 22 Penalty for failure to settle taxes . Ifany town, city or village treasurer shall fail tomake settlement of'the taxes included in the taxroll within the time required by law the county'treasur'er shall charge such town, city or villagetreasurer 5% ' damages and 12% interest peryear from the day payment should have beenmade on the balance of unsettled taxes due ; andif'any town, city or village treasurer shall with-hold the payment of 'any public moneys col-lected or received, after the same should be paidand shall have been demanded, such treasurershall pay 10% damages and 12% interest, asabove specified, on such moneys; which mon-

'74.25 Damages. If any person shall be injuredby the false return or fraudulent act of anytown, city or village treasurer such person shallrecover upon action brought on the bond ofsuch treasurer', of him and his sureties, doubledamages and costs of suit .

74.26 Payments by'county treasurer . (1) ToSTATE TREASURER . On or before March 22 in

2069

a new action, or by proceeding with an actionalready commenced in which case the town, cityor `village shall be substituted as the partyplaintiff:His tory : 1975 c . 324 ; ] 981 c 282'

TAX COLLECTION 74.26

eys; damages and interests may be collected byaction upon such town, city or village trea-surer's bond .

History: 1975 c 211, 421 ; 1979 c 1 1 0 s . 60 (13)

74 .23 Warrant; levy ; breach of bond . I f anytown ;; city or village treasurer shall neglect orrefuse to pay to the county treasurer the sums inhis hands required by law to be paid to him, or ifhe shall neglect or refusee to account . for moneysrequired by law to be collected and paid by himto the county treasurer, such county treasurershall issue a warrant under his hand, directed tothee sheriff' of the county, commanding him tolevy such sum, specifying the amount thereof, asshall remain unpaid of unaccounted for, withinterest and damages as specified in s 74 . .22,together with his fees for collecting the same,, ofthe goods and chattels, lands and tenements ofsuch town, city or village treasurer, and pay thesame to the county treasurer, and return suchwarrant within sixty days from the date thereofand deliver the same to the sheriff, who shallimmediately cause the same to be executed andmake return thereof within the time thereinspecified, and pay to such county treasurer theamount required by such warrant or so muchthereof as he shall have collected thereon ; andsuch sheriff' shall be entitledd to collect andreceive the same fees as are allowed by law tosheriffs on execution . . Nothing in this sectionshall pzohibit prosecution of such treasurer'sbond in case of a breach thereof' ..

74 . 24 False or negligent return . If any sheriff'shall neglect to return any such warrant or topay the money collected thereon within the timelimited for- the return of such warrant, or shallmake a false return thereto, the county trea-surer shalll forthwith proceed to collect of himthe whole sum directed to be levied by suchwarrant in the same manner as such sheriff'might be proceeded against for neglecting toreturn an execution in a civil action ; and if heshall fail to collect such money of the sheriff heshall forthwith cause a prosecution to be com-menced against him and his sureties on hisofficial bond for the sum due on such warrant,which sum, when. collected, shall be paid intothe county treasury .


each year each county treasurer shall pay to thestate treasurer the amounts due for state taxesand state special charges certified by the depart-ment of administration to that county under s .70 . . 60 .. On or before the date specified under s .24 70 (4) or (5) the county treasurer shall pay tothe state treasurer the amount due on any statetrust fund loan held by the county .

(2) COUNTY TREASURER'S Ar-r-IDAVIi Everycounty treasurer shall , at the time for makingsuch payments, file with the state treasurer anaffidavit that he or, she has returned and paidinto the state treasury the amounts of ' state trustfund loans held by the county , state taxes andstate special charges required by sub . (1) , speci-fying , the amount remitted on each . . If anycounty treasurer fails to make and file thisaffidavit and pay intoo the state treasury theamounts requited he or she shall, in addition toother penalties pr escribed by law, forfeit $1 ,000which shall be collected for the benefit of thestate upon the official bond of ' the treasurer .

(3) ADDITIONAL, LIABILITY: Whenever anycounty treasurer shall fail to pay into the statetreasury any moneys in his hands for thatpurpose at the time prescribedby law he shall ,in addition to other penalties, be liable to thefollowing. If he shall so fail f"or, the space oftendays he shall forfeit to the state twenty per centon the amount withheld , and if he shall fail topay over such moneys for the space of thirtydays after such specified time he shall forfeit hisoffice of treasurer

History : 1973 c 90, 336 ; 1979 c. 221, 355 ; 1981 c . 169

74.27 Penaltiess upon counties. When anycounty shall fail , neglect or refuse to pay to thestate treasurer the whole or any part of the statetax lawfully apportioned to and levied uponsuch county at the time and in the mannerrequired by law such county shall payy to thestate treasurer , in addition to the amount so dueand unpaid on such tax , interest at the rate of12% per year from the time such tax was dueand payable , until the same, together with suchinterest thereon, shall be fully paid . The depart-ment of administration shall annually , at thetime it is by law directed to apportion the statetax , add to the amount charged to each countyrespectively all amounts which ma y be due thestate and unpaid from such county on anyformer tax, together with interest thereon at therate aforesaid up to the first day of Januaryfollowing such apportionment; and the amountso found shall be the amount of the state tax tobe paid by such county for the year , and shall becertified, levied , collected and paid into the statetreasury as provided by law; and any money inthe state treasury or which may come therein atany time prior to the paymentt of such delin-

74.29 Delinquent personal tax. (1) Thecounty treasurer shall annually , within 30 d aysafter the several town treasurers have madetheir returns of delinquent t axes as provided bylaw, make a schedule of all the taxes on personalproperty in his county so returned delinquentand which remain unpaid at the time of makingthe schedule The schedule shall also contain alltaxes on personal property in the county re-turned by the town treasurers as unpaid for the2 years next preceding those last returned andwhich have remained uncollected.d at the datethereof, and may be in the following form :

Schedule of ' taxes assessed on personal prop-erty for the years 19 , 19 and 19 , and whichwere returned as provided by - law by the severaltown treasurers of the county of , as delin-quent and unpaid and which remain unpaid onthis ; .. .,:day of , 19 (This should be followedby 3 columns headed "Names of PersonsTaxed ", " Amount of taxes due " and "Years forwhich taxes are, due" )

(2) The county treasurer shall , within thetime aforesaid , annex to such schedule a war-rant under the treasurer's hand , directed to thesheriff of the county , commanding the sheriff tocollect from each of the persons and corpora-tions named in said schedule the amount of' theunpaid taxes set down in such schedule oppositeto their respective names, with interest at onepercent per month or fraction thereof from thefirst day of January next preceding the timewhen such taxes were returned unpaid , togetherwith the fees for collecting the same , of thegoods and chattels, lands and tenements of saidpersons and corporations respectively , a nd topay the same to the county treasurer , and tomakee return of such warrant within 60 daysafter the date thereof '; and such treasurer mayissue a special warrant or warr ants , in anyconvenient or proper form , to the sheriff of anyother county commanding the collection of thedelinquent personal property tax of any one

74.26 TAX COLLECTIO N 2070

quent tax by such county , on account of anyappropriation made to such county by the legis-lature or otherwise , except money belonging tothe school fund income, shall be retained by thestate treasurer, who shall apply the same , orsuch part thereof ' as may be necessary , to full ypay such delinquent tax , with interest thereon .

History : 1975 c 211, 421 ; 1979 c ] 10 s 60 ( 1 3)

74.28 Payments to local treasurers. Each.county treasurer shall pay to the several towns,cities or villages on demand, all money collectedor received: by him and belonging to them ; buthe may retain in the county treasury allamounts due from any town, city or village tothe county . .


74.31 Charging tax to municipality. Thecounty treasurer, after one year from the timeany delinquent personal property tax shall havebeen returned to his office by the treasurer ofany townn andd upon filing in his ,office theaffidavit of the sheriff ; his deputy or undersher-iff, stating that such taxx is uncollectible, shallcharge the same back to such town, city orvillage and certify the same to the county clerk,who shall add the same to the next county taxapportioned thereto and send a list of the indi-vidual taxes comprising the same to the clerk ofsuch town, city or village; but if' any such taxshall be thereafter collected by the county trea-surer the amount so collected shall be creditedto such town, city or village .

74.32 Taxes, interest ; payment on share orpart to county treasurer ; notice. (1) Any per-son may discharge the taxes on any parcel ofland returned to the county treasurer as delin-quent or on any part or undivided share of it bypaying them with interest and penalty as pro-vided under s . 74,80 f'r'om .January 1 of'tHe yearafter the tax levy and all lawful charges thereonto the county treasurer at any time before theland is sold .. Upon such payment the treasurershall execute duplicate receipts showing thename of the person making the payment, thedate of the receipt, the description of the prop-erty on which the tax was paid and the aggre-gate amount of taxes, interest,, penalty, costsand charges paid . . One copy shall be deliveredto the person and the other filed by the countyclerk . When an application is made to thecounty treasurer for the payment of the taxesupon any divided portion of any part of any lotor parcel of land the treasurer shall give noticeof'the proposed payment to any person otherthan the applicant having a recorded owner-ship, mortgage or land contract interest in theland that mayy be affected by the application andafford such person a hearing . . This notice shallbe given in the manner provided in s 75 12 forgiving notice of applications for a tax deed, andthe costs of giving this notice shall be paid bythe person making the application .. The timefor the hearing shall be fixed at not less than . 10days after service of the notice .. The treasurershall then determine the true proportion .n oftaxes chargeable to the part on whichh the taxes

74.30 Powers of sheriff; actions ; attachment ;garnishment. (1 ) The sheriff to whomm any suchwarrant shall be deliveredd shall proceed in the,same manner and with the same power tocollect the unpaid taxes specified in the scheduleor warrant as he would upon execution issuedout of a court of record ., And the countytreasurer' or any . person in his behalf who isinterested in the collection of'said tax may makethe necessary affidavit for garnishee proceed-ings or attachment,. and thereupon any compe-tent court shall have jurisdiction of the same ..Such affidavit need not state that such indebt-edness or property is not exempt by law fromsale on execution, but shall state that the indebt-edness is for a delinquent personal property taxinstead of stating that it is on contract or,judgment . . Such affidavit may be amended as inother, cases . .

(2 ) In case any of such taxes shall be returnedunpaid in whole or in part the said treasurermay, at any time within six years thereafter,bring an action or actions in the name of hiscounty to . recover such unpaid taxes and thecosts and charges thereon against the persons orcorporation charged therewith in any court ofcompetent jurisdiction; and no law exemptingany goods and chattels, lands and tenementsfrom forced sale under execution shall apply toa levy and sale, under any of said warrants orupon any execution issued upon any judgmentrendered in any such action ; and upon thereturn of'such general warrant the county trea-surer is also authorized to institute against anyperson charged with any personal tax whichremains uncollected supplementary proceed-ings for the collection thereof; and all lawsapplicable to such supplementary proceedingsupon judgments are made applicable to theproceedings hereby authorized', except that if'such delinquent is a resident of this state suchproceedings shall be instituted before someproper officer of'the, county in which the personproceeded against resides, otherwise in anycounty in the state .

(3) The tax roll and town treasurer's warrantand,retucn; or abstracts therefrom, certified bythe county, treasurer under his seal of office,shall, upon the trial of any such action or

2071

person or of several persons in the discretion ofthe treasurer; and such last-named warrantsmay be issued at any time whilee such tax re-mains unpaid . The countyy treasurer may re-new, by indorsement thereon, such general orspecial warrants from time to time, either beforeor after the return thereof, for 60 days at onetime and not longer than one year after the datethereof. .

History : 1975 c . 211, 421


proceedings authorized by this section, be pre-sumptive, evidence of such tax , of its beingunpaid and of' the amount unpaid, and in sup-plementary proceedings the same presumptionsshall be entertained .in favor of the validity ofthe tax and tax proceedings as in favor of ' ajudgment and execution . .


sessing the qualifications specified in s : 985 . . 03 ,or, if' there is ~ none, in one such newspaper ineach adjoining county as the ' county boarddirects . Every newspaper, for purposes of ' thissection , shall be deemed to have been regularlypublished once i n each week if' not more than 10days has intervened between successive issues ..Such notice shall be 3 newspaper columns wideand 10 column inches deep , except in countieshaving a population of 500 , 000 or more suchnotice shall be 2 newspaper columns wide and 6column inches deep, and shalll be charged andpaid for at the advertising space rates regularlycharged by each such newspaper : The countyt r easurer shall post the notice in a conspicuousplace in his office, and in 3 other public places inhis county .

(b) Such notice shall be substantially in thefollowing form and language :

OWNERS OF REAL ESTATE 'IN COUNTYTAKE NOTICE

On October . . , 19' ., and the next succeedingdays , . ;' Treasurer of ', . . . county , will , at thecourthouse at (county seat), Wisconsin , sellat public auction so much as may be necessaryof each tract of land upon which the taxes havebeen returned as delinquent and are on saiddate still unpaid , for- the payment of the taxesand interest due thereon . . This sale will includeall real estate listed in the county treasurer ' sofficial records of delinquent taxes for the taxlevy year . ., except public lands held on con-tract and lands mortgaged to the state . If youare in doubt as to whether the taxes on yourland are paid , consult the county treasurer',

PAY YOUR TAXES NOWBy so doing you will prevent sale of yourproperty f'or, taxes and you will stop the furtheraddition of interest charges .

. ., (Name of' treasurer)County Treasurer

. . County(c) If' the 'county is the exclusive bidder under

par (a) the notice shall be published as pro-vided in par, (a) and shall be in substantially thefollowing form and language :

OWNERS OF REAL ESTATEIN COUNTYTAKE NOTICE

On October 19 . .E and the next succeedingdays , .' . ., Treasurer of ` county, will , at the.courthouse at . . . ..,' Wis . ., sell to . . . County somuch as may be necessary of each tract of landupon which the taxes have been returned asdelinquent and are on said date still unpaid, forthe payment of the taxes and interest duethereon This sale will include all real estatelisted in the county treasurer's official recordsof delinquent taxes for the tax levy year 19 . . . .

are sought to be paid, and that amount shall bedeemed to be the amount of the taxes charge-able to it, -

(2)' In counties having 'a population of500,000 or more the duplicate of such receiptshall not be filed in the county clerk's"office, butshall be filed in the county treasurer's office

Hist ory : 1975 c 211, 421 ; 1981 c 167

74:325 - Delinquent taxes; payment in instal-ments. The tax on any parcel of land returnedto the county treasurer as delinquent may bepaid in instalments of not less than $20 and inany multiple of'$5 The portion of that paymentto be applied as principal shall be ascertained bydividing the amount of the payment by the sumof one plus a figure that-is the product of either,01 or a decimal that reflects the applicablepercentage under s : 24.80, multiplied by thenumber of months of delinquency, countingany part of a month as a full month ., Thatamount of principal shall be deducted from theamount offered in payment and the remaindershall be the interest accrued from January 1 .ofthe year after the tax levy on that portion of thetax which is offered to be paid . Interest shall becomputed only-on, the. unpaid balance, of theprincipal and shall be figured from that January1, and the land against which such tax or specialassessment is a lien shalll be sold for the amountof unpaid balance plus interestHistory: 1975 c 211 ; 1981 c, 167

74 . 33 Record of delinquent lands ; notice ofsale ..`( 1) On or before September 15 of eachyear, the county treasurer shall have availablein his office for public inspection a record of alllands on which the taxes have been returned asdelinquent and which then remain unpaid, ex-cept public lands held on contract and landsmortgaged to the state .

(2) (a) He shall prepare and cause to bepublished a' notice stating that so much as maybe necessary of each tract of land upon whichthe taxes have been returned as delinquent andwhich remain unpaid on the third. Tuesday inOctober next, except public lands held on con-tract and lands mortgaged to the state, as shownon the official records of delinquent takes in hisoffice, will, on the third Tuesday in October andthee next succeeding days, be sold by him atpublic auction at a' named public place, at thecounty courthouse, for the payment of taxesand interest `thereon .. If' the county is theexclusive bidder under s 74..44, he shall so statein a separate notice under par (c) .' He shallcause such notice to be published, as a class 2notice, under ch; 985, prior to but not earlierthan 30 days before the 3rd Tuesday in Octoberin each newspaper published in his county pos-



except public lands held on contract and landsmortgaged to the state . . If you are in doubt as towhether the taxes on your land are paid, consultthe county treasures .

PAY YOUR TAXES NOWBy doing so you will prevent sale of yourproperty for taxes and you will stop the furtheraddition of interest charges . . .THIS SALE IS NOT OPEN TO, THE

PUBLICTHE COUNTY WILL PURCHASE

THESE DELINQUENT TAXES .County Treasurer

. County

74 .345 Error in notice ; subsequent sale . (1)Ifthe county treasurer fails to comply with s .74 .. .33, notice of sale may be published later asprovided in s . 74 .33 and the sale held at a timefixed by him, not later than December 15, withlike effects as if he had originally complied withthe section..

Histo ry : 1975 c, 200

74.36 Affidavits of publication and posting .Every printer who publishes such notice shall,immediately after the last publication thereof,transmit to the treasurer of the proper countyan affidavit of such publication made by someperson to whom the fact of publication isknown; and no printer shall be paid for publish-ing any such notice who fails to so transmit suchaffidavit on or before the date fixed for suchsale; and the county treasurer shall also make orcause to be made an affidavit of the posting ofsuch notice as required in s . 74 . .33 ; which affida-vit together with the affidavit of publication,shall be carefully preserved by him ..

74.38 Officers not to be interested . It shall beunlawful for any town or county officer orcounty board to make any contract or agree-ment with the printer or any other person bywhich the said fees or compensation or any partthereof; or the fees and compensation hereinaf-ter provided forr the publication of the notice ofthee time when redemption of lands.s sold fortaxes will expire or .any part thereof', may orshall, directly or indirectly, inure to the use orbenefit of any such town or county officer; andifany such officer or printer shall violatee theprovisions of this section he shall forfeit not lessthan two hundred and fifty nor more than onethousand dollars.

. 74 :39 Sale of real estate. On the day desig-nated in the notice of sale the county treasurersshall begin the sale of those lands on which thetaxes, penalty and interest have not been paidand shall continue every day, Sundays excepted,

74 .42 When treasurer to buy. If any tract ofland cannot be sold for the amount of taxes,interest and charges thereon it shall be passedover for the time being, but shall, before theclose of'the sale, be reoffered for sale; and if thesamee cannot besold for the amount aforesaidthe county treasurer shall bid of'f' the same forthe county for such amount,

74 . 43 Cities bidding in at tax sales . (1) If, atany sale in any city in this state, : whether orga-nized under, general law or special charter, ofreal or personal property for taxes or assess-ments, no bid shall be made for any parcel ofland, or for any goods and chattels, the sameshall be struck off to the city, and thereupon the

20 : 7.3 TAX COLLECTION 74 .43

until enough of'each parcel has been sold to paythe taxes, interest and penaltyy as providedunder s 74 80 upon the amount of such taxesfrom January 1 of the nextt year after the taxlevy, and all moneys received on such sale shallbe paid into the county treasury . . If thee trea-surer discovers before the sale that because ofirregular assessment or any otherr error any ofthe lands ought not to, be sold, the treasurershall not offer them for sale but shall report thelands ,withheld from sale and the reasons forwithholding them to the county board at itsnext session . .His tor y : 1975 c 211, 421 ; 1981 c 167,

74:40 Who to be purchaser ; order of sale .The person offering at such sale to pay thetaxes, interest and charges on any Tract of landfor the least quantity thereof shall be the pur-chaser of such quantity, which shall be takenfrom the north side or end of such tract, andshall be bounded on the south by alive runningparallel with the northerly line thereof, if suchline be a single straight line, otherwise the southline of'the portion so sold shall run due east andwest; and in case no bid be made for thepayment of the taxes, interest' and charges onany such tract of'land for a portion thereof thenthe whole of such tract shall be sold .

74.41 Payment. The county treasurer may, inhis discretion, require immediate payment ofevery person : to whom any such tract or parcelthereof shall be struck off; and in all cases wherethe payment is not made within twenty-fourhourss after the bid he may declare such bidcanceled and selll the land again or may sue thepurchaser for the purchase money and recoverthee same,, with costs and ten per cent damages ;and any person so neglecting or` refusing tomake payment shall not be entitled after suchneglect to have any bid made by him received bythe treasurer during such sale .


74.44 County may , purchase on tax sales ;cutting county timber , penalty . (1) The countyboard of any county may authorize and directthe county treasurer to bid in and become thepurchaser of all lands sold for taxes for theamount of taxes, interest and charges remainingunpaid thereon . Any certificate of'sale, exceptas to drainage assessments, owned by anycounty, shall constitute collateral security forany loan to such county to an amount equal toone-half the face value of'such certificate whennegotiated by the county clerk and treasurer ..All laws relating to the sale or purchase of landssold for the nonpayment of such taxes, and tothe redemption of'such lands, shall apply and bedeemed to relate to the sale or purchase of suchlands by the county .

(2) Unless expressly authorized by resolutionof the county board or by the governing body ofany city' authorized by law to sell its owndelinquent taxes or assessments, any personwho cuts, destroys or removes, or directs oncontracts for the cutting, destruction or re-moval,,of :any logs;,wood, timber,

;bushes,or, shrubs, ox any buildings, fixtures and otherimprovements assessed as real property fromlands owned by anyy county or such city or fromany, lands upon which any .y county or such cityholds a tax certificate shall be liable to suchcounty, or, such city for the value thereof, andany person who wilfully cuts, destroys orremoves or directs or contracts for such cutting,destruction or removal shall be guilty of amisdemeanor and upon conviction shalll bepunished by a fine of not less than $10 nor morethan $100, or by imprisonment in the county jailfor not less than 10 days nor more than 90 days,or by both such fine and imprisonment . .

(3) Any person who receives, conceals or aidsin the concealment of any such logs, wood,timber, bushes or shrubs, or any such buildings,fixtures and other, improvements or materialssalvaged therefrom; knowing the same to havebeen wilfully severed or removed from the landsof any county or such city or on whichh anycounty or such city has a tax lien, shall be liableto the countyor 'such city fOr the value thereofand shall be guilty of the offense of receivingstolen property and upon conviction shall bepunished as provided ins 94.3 . .34 ..

74 .45 'Mistake not to affect sale . When anyland is of'f'ered for sale for any taxes it shall notbe necessary to sell the same as the property ofany particular person ; and if it should be sold asthe property of any such person no misnomer ofthe owner, oor supposed owner or other mistakerespecting the ownership of'such land shall everaffect the sale or render it void or voidable :

city shall receive in its corporate name a certifi-cate of ' the sale thereof and shall be vested withthe same rights as other purchasers are . When-ever such city shallhold any certificate of salefor any land sold for the nonpayment of citytaxes, the common council of such city , toprotect such interest, may authorize and directthe city treasurer to bid in and to becomeexclusive purchaser ' in the corporate name ofsuch city of such lands at any sale ofthe same bythe 'county treasurer for the county and statetaxes, and such city shall be vested with thesame rights as ace other purchasers ; providedthat such city shall , before becoming the exclu-suive purchaser for said lands for said countytaxes, purchase any outstanding county cectifi-cates of `sale held, by. the county which aresubsequent to the city certificates of sale, or incase such land has . been sold by the county to aprivate purchaser subsequent to the city certifi-cate of sale such city shall first secure an assign-ment off the certificate of sale f r om the ownerthereof or redeem the lands from such .h sale . .When a tax deed shall be issued to the city , theland covered by said tax . deed shall be exemptfrom further taxation until the same is sold bythe city : The city treasurer : shall annually,before the first day of January , furnish to theassessor 's of ' such city , a list of the lands in suchcity exempt under this subsection . If thee cityshall be purchaser of any personal property byvirtue of this chapter , the treasurer shall havethe power ' to sell the same at public sale , and incase' the city shall become the purchaser of anyreal ' estate at -any tax sale, the treasu rer isauthorized to sell the certificates issued therefor

'for the amount of' such sale and interest at eightper centum per year ; and to indorse and transfersuch certificates to the purchasers ,

(2) All acts or parts of acts, including theprovisions of anyy city charter ,, which are con-trary to the provisions of this section arerepealed ..

(3) , Notwithstanding sub . (1) the commoncouncil in any such city mayy by ordinanceauthorize and direct the city treasurer to bid inand become- the purchaser of' all lands soldd for

' taxes, except such as to which s 75 : 67 is applica-ble, for the amount : : of taxes, interestt andcharges remaining unpaid thereon , and all suchlands sold shall be struck off ' to the city, andthereupon the city shall receive in its corporatename a certificate of sale thereof, and shall bevested with the same rights as other purchasers ,Such tax sale certificate shall be assigned by thecity treasurer by direction of the common coun-cil of such city :

History : 1917 c ,'29 s . 1646 (3) ; 1979 c 110 s 60 (13)



74.455 Correction of tax certificates ; Any tax Wisconsin, to wit : (Here insert description) incertificate held +bya county containing 'anincor- tax sale certificate no , , . , dated ., . .,, issued byrect real estate description may be corrected by the treasurer of the (county of . . . ) (city of . . ) asan action ; brought in the circuit court in the provided by law for unpaid taxes of the year_ ,same manner as actions for the reformation of and now held by (county of ) (city of'_ ), willinstruments . Such certificates so corrected shall be corrected to read as follows , to wit : (Herebe valid as of the date first issuedd insert correct description)

Date . . . .. ..74.456 Correction of tax sale certificates . (1) Treasurer of'(, .)Whenever: the .county treasurer or the treasurer

(4) Such owners or mortgagee may within 20of' any city authorized by law or charter to. selldays after the time of com pletion of service oflands for, the nonpayment of faxes and special -

assessments, shall r discover that the real estate such notice, file a written objection to the mak-description in any tax sale certificate ownedd by ing of such correction with such treasurer ,thee county or, any such city is erroneous and When such objection is filed , the matter shall bedoes not describe . : the lands intended to be referred by such treasurer to the governingassessed, and the correct description of such body of the town, city or village wherein suchlands can be obtained from the assessor of• the lands are located for a hearing on such objec-town, city or village wherein suchh lands are tion . Suchh governing body shall have power tolocated, such treasurerr may request . that . such decide whether such correction shall , be madeassessor make and file with such treasurer an and its decision shall be final and conclusiveaffidavit correctly describing said lands Such subject to being reviewed by certiorari in theassessor shall make and file such affidavit upon circuit court of such county . A copy , certifiedsuch request being made . to by the county treasurer or city treasurer, as

the case may be, of ' . the assessor ' s affidavit and .(2) Upon the filing of such aff idavit the notice, together with affidavit of service , xegis-treasurershall give notice in the manner ' herein- tered mail return receipt or _proof _ of publica-afterpresctibed to the owners and mortgagees, tion, , shall be filed with such governing body,if any , of i ecord in the office of register of deeds when such objection is filed with such treasurerrof the county wherein such land is located, thatit is proposed to correct the description in such (5) When no objection to such correctiontax certificate to conform to the description in shall .have been made within the time herein-such assessor' s affidavit , Such notice shall be above - provided, or when after objection, thegiven by service in the manner that a summons correction has been permitted by such gowis served ' in a' court of record; or by registered erring body , the county treasurer or such citymail with return receipt of' addressee demanded treasurer , as the case may be , shall correct theSuch notice may be served by any officer or real estate descr iption in the tax sale certificateemploye of such county or city : If such notice ' so as to conform to the proper description as setcannot with due diligence be so se rved , it shall forth in the affidavit of " the assessor . The fact ofbe served on such owner or mortgagee by such correction will thereafter be indorsed bypublicati on as a class 3 notice, under ch ' 985 ., the proper treasurer on such tax sale certificatesThe affidavit and notice, together with " affidavit - and on the record of tax sales and such indocse-of service, registered trail return ' receipts or merit shall be dated and s igned by such trea-proof of >publication, as the case may be, shall surer in his official capacity. Any such tax salebe filed in the office of the t i easurec who has certificate so corrected and any tax deed issuedapplied for the corrective description . All other thereon shall be as valid and effectual as if ' theprovisions of law ; including the provisions of proper real estate description for such lands hadany city charter ; which are contrary ' to the appeared in such tax sale certificate when firstprovisions of this subsection, are superseded' by issued and in the assessment and tax roll, and init. ` the duplicate tax roll and statement of unpaid

taxes and list - of' delinquent lands provided for(3) The 'notice hereinabove referred to shall in,b thecharter, pursuant to sS ,. 74 17. and 74,03e in substantially the following form to wit: ~ (10) (a) :NOTICE OF CORRECTING TAX SALE CERTIFICATE

STATE OF WISCONSIN ,' (6) Any individual owner and holder of a taxsale certificate may have the same corrected by

County making application to such county : oxr city trea-To . ., (Record owner or owners) . surer 4o cause such certificate to be corrected as

(Mortgagee or Mortgagees of record) in this section provided . In such case suchTake notice that pursuant to section 74'456, individual owner shall deposit in advance with

Wisconsin statutes , the following description of the 'proper treasurer- the reasonable costs of thelands situated in the county of ; state of service of ' the notice of proposed correction .

2075 TAX COLLECTION 7 4.456


separate parcel and the amount of delinquenttax and charges intended to be included in thetax certificate Thereafter when any persondesires to purchase the tax certificate on anyindividual parcel included in either of themaster certificates the county treasurer shallexecute a single tax certificate to the county inthe form prescribed in this subsection , and thecounty treasurer shall endorse it and add' theofficial character . Then the procedure pre-scribed in - sub . (2) shall apply ,: Whenever one or .more single certificates are executed on parcelsincluded in a master ce r tificate that fact shall benoted on the master certificate by reference tothe item number of " the parcel .. If after the issueof any master certificate any delinquent taxitem included is redeemed , the fact, date andamount of redemptionn shall be noted on themaster certificate by reference to the items ofthe pa r cel . The form of the master certificateshall be substantially as follows :STATE OF WISCONSIN,

County .County Treasurer's Office , , 19I, , ., county treasurer of the county of . ,, in

the state - of' Wisconsin, certify there was sold atpublicc auction , under notice given as requiredby law, on the . . ., day of , 19 , to the countyof- , the lands described and listed in volumenumber _, , town of . ., record of sales andassignments, the item numbers of which are setforth below . The record is on file in the office ofthe county treasurer of . . . county and is herebymade apart of this certificate . The sum listedbelow is the• amount .t due and unpaid for taxeson the lands for the year 19 . The county of _,or assigns will therefore be entitled to a deed ofconveyance of the lands in 3 years from thisdate, except that when razing costs incurred byanyy city or village are included in the amountdue for taxes the period of redemption shall beone year from the date of the certificate, at theexpiration .n of which the county or its assignsshall be entitled to a deed, unless redeemed fromsale according to law ,. . The rate of interest incase of ' redemption shall be (one percent) ( . .%)per month or fraction of' a month from .January1, : . 19 . The lands, together with thee sum forwhich they are sold, are more particularlyshown in volume number _ . , town of .,recordof sales and assignments numbers ,and

. . . . , County Treasurer ,(1a) Unless the context clearly requires

otherwise, as used in this section "county" shallinclude a city of the first class and "countytreasurer" shall include a treasurer of 'a city ofthe first class .

(2) Any such certificate may be assigned bythe purchaser by writing his name in blank onthe back thereof, and by the county treasurer or

` (7) This section shall apply to tax sale certifi-cates issued prior as well as after May 20, 1943 ..

74.46 Certificate of sale; may be assignedand recorded. (1) (a) The county treasurer shallgive to each purchaser on the payment of thepurchaser ' s bid , and if it is struck off' to thecounty then to the county , a certificate datedthe day of the sale , describing the landspurchased and stating the original amount ofthe tax, the rate of interest and penalty andd thedate fromm whichh the interest andd penaltyy ac-crues andd the time when the purchaser will beentitled to a deed : This certificate shall besubstantially in the following form : . .STATE OF WISCONSIN ;. County .County Treasurer's Office, _. ., 19 . . .I , ,county treasurer of the county of : , in

Wisconsin , certify that I did at public auction ,under notice given as required bylaw , on this . . . .day-of' , sell to A . B . (or the county of , . ) -thelands described here far dollars and . . cents ,this ' sum being the amount due and unpaid fortaxes, on this land for the year ' 19 . : ; that A . B ,his or her heirs or, assigns (or the county orassigns), will, therefore , be entitled to a deed ofconveyance of these lands in 3 years from thisdate, unless they are redeemed earlier from thesale according to law, and the rate of interest incase of redemption shall be (one percent) ( . . %)per month or fraction of ' a month from :January1 , 19 . . ` These lands are described as follows ,with' sums for which each tract was sold setopposite to each description : (Here insertdescription, and separately the amount bid oneach tract)

A B . County Treasurer .(b) The purchaser at any tax sale and any

person taking tax certificates from the countyby assignment shalll pay therefor the principalof ' the tax and interest thereon fiom .January 1of the year following the tax levy to the date onwhich he pays - for his certificate ..

(c) 'Whenever' in any county lands are bid infor` delinquent taxes for the county, the countytreasurer may, instead of executing separate taxcertificates on every parcel of land to thecounty, prepar'e 'andd execute one master certifi-cate to include lands in each town, city or village 'sold for delinquent general taxes , special assess-ments, drainage assessments levied as specifiedinch . 88 (or ch : 88 or 89, 1965 stats , as it existedprior to : January 1 , 1965) and special improve-ments, bonds and trust items This certificateshall be in substantially the form as provided inthis paragraph and shall incorporate by refer-ence to, appropriate, numbering in the t i ea-suxer's tax sales record the description of each

74 -.456 TAX COLLECTION 2076


county clerk in like manner, with his officialcharacter added, or any person's interesttherein may be transferred by a written assign-ment indorsed upon or, attached to the same .Any assignment of such certificate after the firstmay be made by the delivery of the certificatewithout any writing or other indorsement Adeed may be issued on such assigned certificate,though indorsed or delvered :to-the owner andholderr thereof, and possession of the same,together with the affidavit now required by law,shall be sufficient evidence of the ownership ofsuch certificate: And the county treasurer orcounty clerk, whichever of themm shall, by thecounty board in pursuance of s . 75 35, be autho-rized to sell and assign any tax certificatesownedd by such county, shall make and keep onfile in his office:a careful and accurate list of'allsuch tax certificates struck off to or owned, bysuch county, and he shall note upon such list, atthe time of the salee or assignment of any suchcertificate, thee time when and thee person towhom the same is assigned All such certificatesand assignments 'thereof; when such assign-ments are duly sealed,, duly attested by twosubscribing witnesses and acknowledged, maybe recorded in the office of the register of deedsof the proper' county with the same effect asother records therein,

History: 1977 c 1 74; 1981 c 167; 19816 390 s 252See note to 75A 1 ; citing 63 Atty- Gen . 592 :

74 . 47 ' Papers, stub book and rolls to be filed .Every county treasurer shall, immediately afterthe close of the sale of any lands for taxes fileand carefully preserve in his office all affidavits,notices and papers in relation to such tax sale ;also a statement containing a particular descrip-tion of each tract or parcel ;thereof', of lands sosold by him, specifying the name of the personto whom sold, the amount for which the samewas sold and the name of the owner, if known .Said treasurer shall also file and carefully pie-serve in, his office the stub `book, tax roll anddelinquent return Every county treasurer shall,at the expense of the county; procure a recordbook and record therein all 'affidavits and no-tires hereina6ove mentioned and the record ofsuch affidavits 'and notices shall be received inevidence in all courts and proceedings as proofof'the matters therein contained with like effectas such original notices or affidavits .

74 . 49 , Sale after injunction dissolved . When-ever any officer shall have been enjoined fromselling any lands subject to sale for unpaid taxesor assessments of';any kind or nature and suchinjunction <shall have been dissolved, . if' suchtaxes or assessments, with interest and chargesthereon, shall remain unpaid for thirty days

after the dissolution of such injunction suchofficer or his successor shall, immediately afterthe expiration of said thirty days, give notice ofthe time and place of'the sale of such lands, andthereupon sell the same for such unpaid taxes orassessments, interest and charges, and interestshall be charged thereon to the time of sale atthe rate provided by law for interest on suchtaxes and assessments at the time of grantingsuch injunction; and in any city authorized tosell land for nonpayment of taxes at the rateprovided in tax certificates of such city at thetime the taxx sale would have been made exceptfor such injunction, the same to be computedfrom thee date of delinquency of the tax.; and ingiving such notices and in making such sale heshall be governed in all respects by the provi-sions of law which may then be in force con-cerning sales of'lands for taxes so far as thesame may be applicable The effect of such saleshall be the same, as of other sales of lands fortaxes : by such officer; and the land sold may beredeemed from such sale; and if' not redeemed,deeded in like manner and with like effect asmay be provided in other cases of lands sold fortaxes . .

74 ,. 50' Disqualification of officers . It shall notbe lawful for any county treasurer, countyclerk, any of their deputies or clerks or anyother person for them or any of them topurchase ; directly of indirectly, property soldfor taxes at any, tax sale, or to purchase any taxcertificate ox_ tax title held by the county or byany person or persons whomsoever, except forand on behalf of the county as provided by law ;nor' shalll any such treasurer, clerk, any of theirdeputies or clerks or any other person for themor either of them be, directly or indirectly inter-ested in the purchase of any property sold asaforesaid at any tax sale or in the purchase ofany tax certificate or tax title except as .hereinbe-foxe provided ;. and any such certificate or titlepurchased or issued or any purchase of prop-erty made contrary to this section shall be nulland . void ; . and no money received intoo thecountyy treasury for any such tax certificate shallbe refunded to the purchaser or to any personon his behalf:

. 74 . 57. Lands acquired. by state are nott sub-ject to tax sale. (1) It shall not be lawful for anycounty, city or village treasurer to sell any landswhich shall have been acquired by tie state afterthe taxes becomee a lien thereon, When suchlands shall have been returned :delinquent to thecounty treasurer he shall certify to the board ofcommissioners : of, publiclands a descriptionthereof together with the amount of taxes



for the surrender of such certificate or certifi-cates . A certified copy of such order may befiledd with the department of administration,and upon its audit thereof and an order drawnon the state treasurer, the same shall be paid tothe person or persons indicated in the order ofthe board of commissioners of public lands .

(5) The amount of any unpaid liens againstproperty purchased for the state shall be consid-ered a part of'fhepurchase price and when paidshall be charged to the appropriation to whichthe purchase price is charged Any such liens onproperty forfeited under s . 24 28 shall be paidout of the fund, and specific appropriation ifany, to which : payments in the contract havebeen credited,

74.58 Personal liability for delinquent taxesand other costs . (1) In this section :

(a) "City" means a-city authorized by law tocollect and sell its own taxes ..

(b) "Property owner" means:1 Anyy person who owns real property on

which real estate taxes or special assessmentsare delinquent during thee period to which thedelinquency applies

2 . . Any person who owns real property that israzed by a city under s . 66 .05 (2), (5) or (8)(b) .

3 . Any person who owns real property onwhich an excavation is located that is filled by acity under, s 66 05 (6) .

4 Any person who owns real property onwhich a public nuisance is abated under s .823.04 or 823 . .22 .

( 2) As an alternative to, or in lieu of proceed-ing against the real property, a city may proceedto collect delinquent real estate taxes and othercosts as provided in this section ..

(3) (a) A city may bring a civil action againsta property owner to recover any of the follow-ing costs :

1 . Delinquent real estate taxes and specialassessments .. A property owner is personallyliable for the payment of delinquent real estatetaxes and special assessments to the extent thatthe delinquency applies to taxes and assess-ments owed for the period during which theproperty owner owned thee property,

2 . The cost of'razing property incurred under

3. The cost of filling an excavation incurredunder s . 66 05 (6) .

4 The cost. of abating a public nuisanceunder s 82 .3 ..04 or 52 .3 .22 .

(b) If'real property is owned simultaneouslyby more than one person, the owners are jointlyand severally liable for the . payment of thesecosts; subject to this section

charged against each separate description Theboard of commissioners of public lands within10 days after the receipt of ' such certificate fiomthe county treasurer shall consider the questionof' whether such taxes are just and legal, and if itso • finds shall order the same , paid .. It shalltransmit a certified copyy of its order to thedepartment of administration , and upon itsaudit and warrant drawn upon the state trea-surer the amount of ' said taxes shall be paid outof the appropriation provided for carrying outthe purposes of this section .

(2) No tax deed shall be issued upon any landthe title of which shall have been acquired bythe state after the same shall have been sold fortaxes and a tax certificate issued thereon . . Uponthe, purchase by the state of' any lands uponwhichh there are tax certificates outstanding, thestatee department or agency making suchpurchase 'shall cause the amount of moneyrequired for the redemption thereof to be paidto the county treasurer : If ' such tax certificatesshall not .beso redeemed, the owner thereof maydeposit the same with the county clerk whoshall draww an order upon . the county treasurerfor an amount necessary to redeem the sameand payable to the holder of ' the tax certificate .The amount: of such order shall be paid by thecounty treasurer and deducted by him in hisnext settlement with the state treasurer for statetaxes . ,

(3) Whenever ; in any action brought by thestate to set aside tax deeds outstanding on landsowned by the state, the court shall, as a condi-tion of relief, order a certain amount to be paidby the state, the boardd of commissioners of "public lands may order that the amount re-quired by the order of the court as a cond i tionof relief shall be paid from the state treasury . Acertified copy of' its order shall be filed with thedepartment of administration, and upon itsaudit thereof' and itss orderr drawn on the statetreasurer the amount shall be paid to the clerkof the proper court or such other person asdirected by the order of' the court .

(4) The board of commissioners of publiclands may negotiate with such parties as mayhold tax deeds ' or tax certificates upon any ofthe public domain, and if" the holder of such taxdeed or deeds or tax certificate or certificates iswilling to accept' the amount of the taxes andinterest thereon at the rate prescribed by s . .75 .01 ; or if` lands are in counties where the ratehas been changed at the late fixed by the countyboard, and the legal charges paidd out by him forthe purpose of' securing said tax deed or taxcertificate , the board of commissioners of pub-lic lands may , by its order, direct that he be paidsuch sums -for a quitclaimm deed of such lands or

74.57 TAX COLLECTION 2078Electronically scanned images of the published statutes.

74 . 60 Neglect to elect officers ; howw taxescollected. Whenever the people of any territorywhich has been or shall hereafter be set off' as aseparate town shall neglect or refuse to elect theofficers required bylaw to be chosen therein, byreason whereof the property of such town shallfail to be assessed in the manner' provided bylaw; the"county board shall issue their warrantto thee assessor' and to the treasurer of a townnext adjoining, requiring them to assess andcollect respectively thee amount of taxes duefrom such town to the state and county till anelection shall be held therein ; and thereuponsuch assessor and treasurer shall severally dis-charge all the duties in regard to the assessmentand collection of said taxes within said townthat would have devolved upon them had theybeen duty elected assessor and treasurer respec-tively for said town and for any malfeasance inrespect thereof' said treasurer shall be liable onhis official bond, or said board of 'supervisorsmay, if they think necessary, require him toexecute a new bond to the county treasurer insuch sum and withh such surety as they shalldirect.

74.61 Mailing statement of taxes due. Thetreasurer of any town, village or city ; while thetax roll therefor is in hiss possession ., shall, uponrequest therefor from any taxpayer ; forthwithdeliver or forward by mail to such taxpayer astatement of'the amount of'taxes due upon eachparcel or tract of land owned by such taxpayerand situated in such town, city or village, and incase the tax roll has been delivered to the countytreasurer of any county, except those containinga 'population of one hundred fifty thousandinhabitants or more, then and in such case thecounty treasurer shall, upon request therefor,

74.65 Cancellation of sales . If the countytreasurer shall sell any parcel of land for taxeswhich shall have been paid before sale he shall,on presentation to him of 'a receipt of the townor county treasurer showing that such taxeshave been so paid, enter in a sales book, oppo-

2079

(4) If a city proceeds against both the realproperty and the property owner to collectthese costs, the city may not recover more thanthe amount owed, plus applicable interest andpenalties,

Hi s tor y :` 1983 a . 4'76 .

74.59 Application of chapter to cities . Theprovisions of'this chapter' relative to towns andtown treasurers shall apply to cities and villagesand the treasurers thereof when the same areapplicable, unless otherwise provided . Whenany territory is detached from any county,town, city,, village, school district or vocational,technical and adult education district, it shall inno manner invalidate or interfere with the col-lection of taxes in such territory, but they shallbe collected and returns made as if the territorywas not detached therefrom .

History : 1971 c 154 ..


forthwith perform such service Whenever , inany county having a population of five hundredthousand or more, any taxpayer shall makeapplication by mail or in person to the treasurerof any town, village or city for a statement ofthe amount of taxes due on any parcel or tractof land owned by such taxpayer , such treasurershall enter or cause to be entered upon the taxroll in his possession opposite the description ofthe proper parcel or tract of land thereon thename and address of the owner thereof' as givento him by said taxpayer

74 .62 Taxes ; payment by grantorr andgrantee. As between grantor and grantee of anyland, when there is no express agreement as towhich shall pay the taxes assessed thereon forthe year, in which the conveyance is made, thegrantor shall be chargeable with and pay to thegrantee an amount thereof equal to one-twelfthof the taxes assessed against such land for thepreceding calendar year multiplied by thenumber of months in the current calendar yearwhich have elapsed prior to the date of theconveyance, including the month in which theconveyance is made if such conveyance occursafter the fifteenth day thereof .

74. 63 Rights of occupant who has paidtaxes. When a tax of any kind on any real estateshall have been paid by or collected of anoccupant or, tenant suchh occupant or tenantshall be entitled to recover from the personunder whom he is such occupant or tenant theamountt so paid by him, with interest thereon ateight-tenths of one per, cent per month or fiac-tionthereof, or he may retain the same from anyrent due or owing from him to such person for,the real estate on which such tax was paid,unless it be otherwise provided by agreementbetween such parties .

74 .64 County to refund unjust tax ,. If anyperson, within two years after the payment ofany state or county tax by him, can satisfacto-rily show to the county board that the same wasimproperlyy assessed or was paid by mistakewhen it was not justly chargeable, the saidboard shall order the same to be repaid by thecounty treasurer ; and if the taxes so refunded orany portion 'thereof' be properly chargeablee toany town, city or village it shall be so charged .


74.. 695 Lienholder , acquisition of prior lien .(1) Any person having a lien on real estateagainst which realty there is a prior lien may payany or all of'the items mentioned in sub . (2), andthe amounts so paid shall be added to thepayor's lien, bear interest from date of'paymentat the same rate as that borne when paid, or if'no rate was provided for prior to such payment,at the legal rate of interest . . All sums so paidshall be collected as a part of and in the samemanner as is the lien by virtue of which saidpayments are made and be entitled to the samepriority .

(2) The items, any or all of which may bepaid under sub . . (1), are as follows :

(a) Any past due or defaulted principal orinterest of 'a prior lien .

(b) Any interest or amortized instalment dueunder a prior lien,

(c) Premiums and assessment on insurancepolicies necessary to protect the security of thelienor making ,such payments or of any priorlien and authorized under the terms of eithersuch lien .

(d) Taxes or special assessments due andunpaid on any realty covered by the lien withinterest, penalties and costs .

(e) Any portion of a prior lien .(f)' Any charge for improvements or any

other item authorized by statutes or by theterms of any prior lien,

(3) Such payments shall be proved by theaffidavit of the person making the same, hisagent or attorney, giving the items paid, thedates when paid and the description of the realestate on which the lien is claimed, shall havepriority over any liens which were subsequent tothe lien of the person making the payment at thedate of such payments, and shall also havepriority over any lien filed after such affidavit isrecorded with the register of deeds of the countywhere the land is located,. Said payments shallalso be prior to any liens filed before therecording of such affidavit if such filing wasmade with knowledge of such payments . .

(4) Said payments may be made during theperiod in which any lien is being enforced, orduring the redemption period . . An affidavit ofsuch payments as provided in sub .. (3) may befiled : with the register of deeds, and a copythereof shall be furnished by the sheriff at leastfive days before the expiration of the redemp-tion period .

74 . 69 Discharge of lien; rights of lienor. Theoriginal lien, by virtue of which any person shallobtain such second lien, shall not be dischargedas to the persons mentioned in s. 74 6 7 until themoney thus paid for taxes, charges, interestt orredemption, with interest thereon as aforesaid,shall be first repaid If the original lien be amechanic's lien, or by attachment or mortgage,the amount of such second lien may be includedin any judgment rendered in the suit by whichsuch original lien shall be enforced ; if it be byjudgment; then upon the sale of"such real estatethe amount of such subsequent lien shall bepaidd before any surplus shall be paid to theowner of such real estate or to any such subse-quent incumbrancer or claimant; and if it be bya sheriff's certificate of' a sale on execution or by

74.65 7 '.4X . COLLECTION

site the description of the property so sold, thatfact that such receipthad been presented, thedate of the presentation and by whom thereceipt was executed .

74 . 66 Loss by officers . All losses that may besustained by the default of any officer of anytown, city or village in the discharge of theduties imposed by chs . 70 to 79 shall be chat ge-able to such town, city or village ; and all lossessustained by the default of any county officer inthe discharge of'such duties shall be chargeableto such county ; and the county board shall addall such losses to the next year's taxes of suchtown, city or village, or county, as the case mayrequire . .

Hi story: 1979 c 89

74.67 Rights of lienholder who pays taxes .Whenever any person having any lien upon anyreal estate, obtained pursuant to law, shall havepaid any taxes on such real estate or shall haveredeemed such real estate, when the same shallhave been sold for taxes, he shall have a furtherlien upon such real estate as against the personunder whose title he claims such first lien and allother persons then claiming under him for theamount of'money so paid, with interest at eight-tenths of one per cent per month or fractionthereof', and against all other persons claimingtitle to such real estate under such person accru-ing subsequently to the time of recording thenotice hereinafter specified ..

74 . 68 Record of notice of lien. Any personpaying money as aforesaid may cause to berecorded in the office of'the register of deeds ofthe county where the real estate is situated anotice, signed and acknowledged by him, stat-ing the land upon which the tax or redemptionmoney was paid and the amount of'the moneysthus paid .

2080

purchase at a mortgage foreclosure sale, thensuch real estate shall not be redeemed or repur-chased from such sale or purchase until suchsecond lien has been paid .


(5) If' the lienoc' at the time of making suchpayment has an equal priority with other lien-ors, and the property securing such liens doesnot sell for a sufficient sum to pay all liens, theperson makingg suchh payments shall be repaidthe amounts thereof before the other equallienors receive any share in the proceeds of suchsale .

(6) Section 74 695 shall not apply to any lienin existence on June 17, 1925 .

74.70 Lienholder may avoid tax „ Any personwho is the holder of any such original lien uponany real estate shall have the same right ofaction that the owner of'the land has to test thelegality and validity of'any tax, charge or assess-menf or tax sale, and to annul the same, and toenjoin the sale or deeding of the land on accountthereof':

74 .71 Assessments may be settled for; effectof release. Whenever, any assessment has beenor, shall be made by the authorities of any city orvillage for the purpose of paying for any workdone or improvement made upon any street orhighway therein, the costs of which are liable tobe or have been assessed against any lot orparcel of land, the owner or any person inter-ested in any such lot or parcel of'land may settlefor such work or improvement with any con-tractor or his assigns having a claim against thesame for any work done or to be done by himupon such street or highway under any contractwith the authorities of such city or village ; and arelease, duly executed and acknowledged bysuch contractor or his assigns, shall be entitledto be r'ecor'ded- in the office of thee register ofdeeds in the county and shall be an effectualrelease and discharge> of all claims of suchcontractor or his assigns against the land de-scribed therein and against the owner thereof'and the city or village which may be the con-tracting party for such work or improvement,but not of any claim of'the city or village againstsuch land for printing ; surveying, engineeringandd other incidental :expenses. In countieshavingg a .population of five hundred thousandor more the provisions of', this section shall alsoapp ly to towns .

74 .72 Neglect to levy taxes . Whenever anytown shall have failed to levy, collect or, payover to the county treasurer any state or countytax apportioned to and chargedd against suchtown in any year, or any part thereof; thecounty : board of such county shall, in the next orany succeeding year, charge all such delinquenttaxes and a penalty of twenty-five per cent tosuch delinquent town ; and the county clerk

74.73 Recovery of unlawful taxes and over-assessments. (1g) In this section , "unlawfultax" means a tax in respect to which one ormore errors under s 74 135 (1) to (6) weremade..

(1m) If ' a final judicial determination is madethat a property tax levied and collected was voidfrom the first assessment , any recovery ofmoney shall be limited to, property taxes col-lected on the basis of the 7 immediately preced-ing annual assessments .

(1r) Any person aggrieved b y the lev y andcollection of any unlawful tax assessed againsthim may file a claim therefor against the town,city or village which collected such tax in themanner prescribed by law for filing claims inother cases . If it appears that the tax for whichsuch claim was filed or any part thereof isunlawful and that all conditions prescribed bylaw for the recovery of' unlawf"ul taxes have beencomplied with , the townn board , village board orcommon council may allow and the town , cityyor village treasurer shall pay such person theamount of the claim found to be unlawful andexcessive .. If any town, city or village fails orrefuses to allow the claim , the claimant mayhave and maintain an action against the samefor the recovery of all money so unlawfullylevied and collected, togethe r with interest atthe legal rate computed from the date of filingthe claim , Every such claim shall be filed , andevery action to recover any money so paid shallbe brought , within one year after such payment

(2) If' any town , city or village has paid suchclaim or any judgment recovered thereon afterhaving paid over to - the . county treasurer thestate, county and metropolitan sewerage areadebt retirement tax levied and collected as partof such unlawful tax , or has paid any necessaryexpenses in defense of such action, the town ,city or village shall be. credited by the countytreasurer , on the settlement with the proper -treasurer for the taxess of the ensuing year , thewhole amount of such state, county and metro-politan sewerage area debt retirement tax sopaid intothe county treasury and the county's,state'ss and metropolitan sewerage area debtretirement tax proportionate share of the tax-able costs, interest and expenses of suit, unlesssuch claim or judgment is the result of an erroror defect , other than an error or defect of law ,caused by the town, city or village or officialthereof ', The county treasurer, shall also beallowed by the state treasurer the amount ofstate tax so illegally collected and the state 's


shall add the same to the amount of the annualstate and county tax apportioned to such townfor such succeeding year.


paid as and for taxes levied either upon real or'personal property, or both, if' upon the trial itshall appear' that the assessment upon which thetaxess were so paid is void, - the court, beforeenter ing ,judgment, shall continue the action fora sufficient time to permit a reassessment of theproperty affected by such void assessment , andsuch reassessment shall thereupon be made inaccordance with the provisions of law If fromsuch reassessment when so made it shall appearthat the sum or sums paid for taxes b y theplaintiff are no greater than his equitable and .just share of the taxes as so reassessed, judg-ment shall be entered for the defendant ; and if'fr om such reassessment ,it shall appear that theplainti ff has paid more than his equal and justshare of the taxes judgment shall be entered inhis favor for the excess only over such share .The validity of the reassessment herein pro-vided for may be attacked and determined , andsubsequent reassessments may be had ,, as pro-vided by s 75 .. 54 ; provided , that such reassess-ment shall in all cases be made by the assessor ofthe assessment district wherein the property tobe reassessed is situated . .

(2) If however, in any such action now pend-ing or which may be begun hereafter the evi-dence enables the, court to determine , withr easonable certainty , the amount of taxes whichwere justly chargeable ' against the lands in-volved_in thee action, the court , in its discretion ,may proceed to judgment without stayi ng pro-ceedings or, ordering a reassessment, if it findsthat it is for the best interests of all, parties to theaction that it should do so

See note to 75 ..54, citing Fontana v . Village of Fontana-on-Geneva Lake, 109 W (2d) 226, 319 NW (2d) 900 '(Ct App. .1982), aff'd 1 I 1,W (2d) 215, 330 NW (2d) 211 (1983)

74.77 Paid , by municipality ; lien . (1) Thecouncil of' any city and thee board of any town or-village. may by resolution direct i ts treasurer topay any tax legally : assessed against the realestate of any worthy, indigent person residenttherein .

(2) A copy of the resolution with a statementof the amount and date paid and description ofthe property certified by the clerk of the payingmunicipality, may be recorded with the registerof deeds of ' the proper county and the amountshall thereby become a lien upon the real prop-city in favor of the paying municipality . Aliencreated under thiss section shall have priorityover all other liens except tax certificates orprior liens created under ', this section for theamount paid , with legal interest . . Upon transferof title , of the property by any means or i f thecouncil of any cityy or board of any town orvillagee finds a person no longer to be a worthyindigent resident qualified under this section,

proportionate share of such taxable costs, inter-est and expenses of suit and shall be paid in hissettlement with the state treasurer next after thepayment of such claim or the collection of'suchjudgment .. If any part of such unlawful tax waspaid over to any school district or vocational,technical and adult education district before thepayment of such claim or judgment, the townshall charge the same to such district with theproportionate share of the taxable costs, inter-est and expenses of suit, and the town clerk shalladd the same to the taxes of'such district in thenext annual tax .

(2m) No claim shall be allowed and no actionshall be maintained under this section unless itappears that the plaintiffhas paid more than hisequitable share of such taxes .

(3) If any person shall within the time pro-vided by law have paid an occupational taxupon any personal property, and by mistake ofthe assessing officer such person shall also havepaid another tax assessed unlawfully againstsaid property for state or municipal purposesduring such period, such person may file 'a claimtherefor, and maintain an action for the recov-ery of all moneyy so unlawfully levied and col-lected of`him as provided in sub . (I r), and everysuch claim shall be filed and every action torecover any money so paid shall be broughtwithin six years after such payment and notthereafter

(4) No claim may be filed and no action mayybe brought under this section which is basedupon an allegedly excessive assessment exceptthat in counties with a population of under500;000 which have not adopted a county as-sessor system a claim may be filed and an actionmay be broughtt if' the tax is paid on the con-tested assessment' by January 10 of` the yearfollowing the year of the assessment and a claimfiled within 10 days thereafter and suit com-menced within 30 days following the denial ofthe claim or within 90 days after the claim isfiled if the municipalities fail to act on the claim .,

,History: 1971 c . 154; 1979 c 51 ; 1981 c 204; 1983 a 225Tax levy on tax exempt nursing home held void ab initio as

beyond the taxing officers' jurisdiction; therefore, limitationof (I) is inapplicable and taxpayer is entitled to interest forentire period over which it was wrongfully deprived of funds .Family Hosp, Nursing Home, Inc v Milwaukee, 78 W (2d)312, 254 NW (2d), 268

Where allegedly excessive assessment is the result of un-lawful valuation, action to recover excessive tax may bebrought under (1) notwithstanding (4), Bischoff'v Appleton,81 W (2d) 612, 260 NW (2d) Z73 .

Voluntary payment rule applied to tax assessed againstexempt property Heileman Brewing- Co, v . City of LaCrosse, 105W (2d) l52,312 NW (2d) 875 (Ct . App . 1981) .

"Such taxes," in (2m) refers only to taxes under (1) com-plained of by taxpayer . Marina Fontana v . Fontana-on-Geneva Lake, 11 I W (2d) 215, 330 NW (2d) 211 (1983)

74.74 Reassessment of plaintiff ' s taxes . (1)In any action for- the recovery of any money

74.73 . TAX COLLECTION 2082Electronically scanned images of the published statutes.

74.79 Instalment tax payments . (1) The com-mon council of any city authorized by its char-ter to sell land for nonpayment of city taxes mayby ordinance extend the time for payment with-out interest of all or a portion of the real estatetaxes and special assessments of'the city, exceptspecial assessments as to which no extension isallowed, f'oa~ a period of time not exceeding 9months f'rom: .January 31 in one or more instal-ments under conditions set forth in the ordi-nance. Real estate property taxes, at the optionof'the taxpayer, may be paid in 10 equal instal-ments, each of'which shall be paid on or beforethe last day of each :h month from Januarythrough October . The taxpayer must exercisethe option of paying the taxes in 10 equalmonthly instalments by making the first instal-ment payment on or before January 31 of theyear in which the taxes become due . If' one

74 .80 Interest and penalty on overdue anddelinquent taxes . (1) 'The interest rate on over-due or delinquent real estate taxes, personalproperty taxes and special assessments is onepercent per month or fraction of a month . .

(2) (a) The board of any county or the citycouncil of any city authorized by law to collectand sell its own taxes may by ordinance imposea penalty of up to 0 .5 % per month or fraction ofa month, in addition to the interest under sub . .(1), on any overdue or delinquent real estatetaxes and special assessments . . The governingbody of any city, village or town may, byordinance, impose a penalty of up to 0 .5% per

2083

the amount of ' taxes previously paid under sub ..(1), or any portion thereof, and legal interestaccrued may be extended upon the next avail-able tax roll , or may be proportionately ex-tended upon any number : of the next availabletax rolls, and when extended upon the tax rollshall be considered a delinquent tax against theproperty subject to all proceedings in relation tocollection , return and sale of ' propext ,y for delin-quent real estate taxes .

(3) The owner of such property , his heirs,personal representatives or assigns may dis-charge such lien at any time by paying theamount of ' such lien with accrued interest to thetreasurer of the proper municipality who shallexecute a proper satisfaction piece which maybe duly recorded with the said register of deeds .

(4) The holder of any subsequent lien maypurchase such lien by payment of the amountthereof with accrued interest to the treasurer ofthe proper municipality who shall execute aproper assignment thereof to such payer, andon recording such assignment, such assigneeshall have the same rights the assignor had .

History: 1979 c 34 .

74 .78 Recovery of taxes paid by wrongschool district. Whenever any debt or tax ow-ing by a school di strict is assessed against andpaid by another district, such tax plus six percent shall be entered in the next tax roll againstthe taxable property in the debtor district, andwhen co l lected shall be paid to the treasurer ofthe d i strict, against which the tax was so errone-ously assessed ..

Claim und er this sect ion wa s barred by la ck of c o mplia ncewith 8 93 .8 0 (1) ( a) . Elkhor n Sch oo l D ist . v East Troy Sch oolDis t 110 W ( 2d) I , 327 NW (2d) 206 (Ct App . 1 9 82) .

Acti o n under 74 .78 i s s ubj ect to 6- year limitati o n unde r8 93 . ]9 (4) [now 893 , 93 ( 1 ) (a)] a s we ll a s requi rements o f895 43 (1) [ ngw,:89 3 80 (1)] 68 Atty . . Gen. 3 89 ..

TAX COLLECTION 74 .80

instalment only is not paid on the due date itshall not be deemed delinquent or to render theunpaid balance delinquent , but that instalmentshall be collected together with interest andpenalty as provided under s,74,80 from the dayfollowing the due date If a 2nd instalment isnot paid on the due date the city treasurer shalldeclare the unpaid balance delinquent and thetaxes and special assessments ' shall be collectedtogether with interest and penalty as providedunder s . '74 .. 80 from the preceding January I Ifthe final payment is not made in the monthfollowing the due date , the delinquent unpaidbalance shall be collected together with interestand penalty as provided under s ' 74 . . 80 from thepreceding January 1 On December 1 , thetreasurer shall begin the sale by public auctionof all tracts and lots or parcels upon whichinstalments of' city taxes and special assessmentsremain unpaid . . This sale shall be conducted inthe same manner in which land is required to besold for nonpayment of city taxes . .

(2) The common council of such city may byordinance extend the time of payment withoutinterest of a portion of all taxes and charges inthe duplicate county tax roll or of any tax orcharge levied by a metropolitan sewerage dis-trict under ss . 66 88 to 66 918 for a period oftime not exceeding 6 months from . January 31 inone or more instalments ; the time of payment ,interest and delinquency to be the same asprovided for such city instalments .

(3) A payment shall be considered timelymade under this section if mailed by the tax-payer in a properly addressed envelope andreceived by the city treasurer with postage dulyprepaid , which envelope is postmarked beforemidnight of the last date prescribed for makingthe payment or if payment is received by the citytreasurer by mail or otherwise within 5 days ofthe prescribed date ..

History: 1975 c . 211 ; ]9 ' 7'7 c 174, 418 ; 1 979 c . 158; 1981c 167, 282 .

Cross Reference : See 74.. 03, semiannual payment of taxes,and especially 74 . 03 (10), relative to special provisions forMilwaukee



month or fraction of 'a month , in addition to the taxes, that become overdue or delinquent on orinterest under sub . . (1) , on any overdue or after January 1 , 1982 . . The ordinance maydelinquent personal property taxes .s specify that any or all of' the real estate taxes and

(b) Anyy ordinance enacted under par . . (a) special assessments on an owner-occupied resi-may specify that the penalty under this subsec- deuce or farm is not subject to the penalty undertion shall apply to any real estate taxes and this subsection .. The ordinance may specify thatspecial assessments, or to any personal property the county t reasurer shall exclude the additionaltaxes, that a re overdue or delinquent on the revenue generated by the penalt y from the dis-effective date of the ordinance The ordinance tributions required by ss 74. . 0 .3 (7) and '74. . 0 .31may specify that the penalty under this subsec-tion shall apply to any real estate taxes and X12) (c) and (d))

.special assessments, or to any personal property x isco i y : 1981 c 167; 1983 a 27


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