5.15 Division of municipalities into wards.
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5.15 Division of municipalities into wards.
1. Every city, village, and town in this state shall by ordinance or resolution of its common council or village or town board, respectively, be divided into wards as provided in this section, except as authorized in sub.
(2). The boundaries of the wards established under this section, and the number assigned to each ward, are intended to be as permanent as possible, and to this end each ward shall when created contain a population at a convenient point within the applicable population range under sub.
(b), with due consideration for the known trends of population increase or decrease within that part of the municipality in which the ward is located.
2. Once established, the boundaries of each ward shall remain unchanged until a further decennial federal census of population indicates that the population of a ward is then above or below the applicable population range, or until the ward boundaries are required to be changed to permit creation of supervisory or aldermanic districts of substantially equal population or to enhance the participation of members of a racial or language minority group in the political process and their ability to elect representatives of their choice, or until otherwise authorized or required under this section.
3. If the population of a ward has increased above the maximum of its population range or if the population of a ward must be decreased for a reason specified in subd. 2. , the ward shall be divided into 2 or more wards in compliance with sub.
(b). If the population of a ward has decreased below the minimum of its population range or if the population of a ward must be increased for a reason specified in subd. 2. , the ward shall, if possible, be combined with an adjoining ward, or the underpopulated ward and one adjoining ward shall be combined and together subdivided into 2 or more wards in compliance with sub.
(2).
(b)Except as authorized in sub.
(a), within 60 days after the receipt of a tentative supervisory district plan and written statement, if any, from the county board of each county in which a municipality is located, the governing body of the municipality shall adjust its wards according to the schedule shown in sub.
(2). All territory contained within the municipality, and only the territory so contained, on April 1 of the year of the federal decennial census shall be contained within a ward established under the division ordinance or resolution. Except as authorized in sub.
(2), each ward shall consist of whole blocks, as utilized by the U.S. bureau of the census in the most recent federal decennial census. To suit the convenience of the voters residing therein each ward shall, as far as practicable, be kept compact and observe the community of interest of existing neighborhoods and other settlements. All territory within a ward shall be contiguous, except for island territory as defined in sub.
(f)3. Enactment or adoption of a division ordinance or resolution requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the governing body.
(c)The wards established by municipal governing bodies in a division ordinance or resolution enacted or adopted under this section shall govern the adjustment of supervisory districts under s. 59.10
(a)and
(b)and of aldermanic districts under s. 62.08
(1)for the purpose of local elections beginning on January 1 of the 2nd year commencing after the year of the census until revised under this section on the basis of the results of the next decennial census of population unless adjusted under sub.
(f)4. or 5. ,
(a), or
(7), or unless a division is required to effect an act of the legislature redistricting legislative districts under article IV, section 3 , of the constitution or redistricting congressional districts. The populations of wards under each decennial ward division shall be determined on the basis of the federal decennial census and any official corrections to the census issued on or before the date of adoption of the division ordinance or resolution to reflect the correct populations of the municipality and the blocks within the municipality on April 1 of the year of the census.
(d)Every ward shall be wholly contained within a single county.
(a)Except as required by par.
(d), no city electing its common council at large in which the total population is less than 1,000, and no village or town in which the total population is less than 1,000 is required to be divided into wards under this section, but any such city, village or town may divide itself into wards if the creation of wards facilitates the administration of elections. No village or town located in a county having only one town is required to be divided into wards under this section.
(b)Except for wards created to effect an act of the legislature redistricting legislative districts under article IV, section 3 , of the constitution or redistricting congressional districts and except as authorized under pars.
(bm),
(c),
(e), and
(f)and sub.
(7), wards shall contain the following numbers of inhabitants:
1. In any city in which the population is at least 150,000, each ward shall contain not less than 1,000 nor more than 4,000 inhabitants.
2. In any city in which the population is at least 39,000 but less than 150,000, each ward shall contain not less than 800 nor more than 3,200 inhabitants.
3. In any city, village or town in which the population is at least 10,000 but less than 39,000, each ward shall contain not less than 600 nor more than 2,100 inhabitants.
4. In any city, village or town in which the population is less than 10,000, each ward shall contain not less than 300 nor more than 1,000 inhabitants.
(bm)Every city electing the members of its common council from aldermanic districts shall assemble the blocks wholly or partially contained within the city into wards that will enable the creation of aldermanic districts that are substantially equal in population. If a block is partly contained within the city, the city shall divide the block to form a ward containing the portion of the block that lies within the city.
(c)If the population of a block exceeds the maximum population for a ward otherwise specified in this subsection, such block shall be constituted a ward by itself, except that if the population of a block substantially exceeds the population of proposed aldermanic districts in a city so that, if the block were to constitute an aldermanic district, the populations of the aldermanic districts in the city would not be substantially equal, the city shall divide the block to permit assembly into wards that will enable creation of aldermanic districts that are substantially equal in population.
(cm)Any division of blocks under this section shall be based on the best evidence available. In this paragraph, “best evidence” includes, but is not limited to, the population of the block and other information received from the U.S. bureau of the census and such data as number of housing units, utility connections and vehicle registrations or a special census conducted locally. For each ward so established, the population estimate shall be correlated with the results of the most recent federal decennial census, so that the total population reported for all wards in the municipality agrees with the census results.
(d)Every municipality shall make a good faith effort to accommodate the tentative plan submitted by the county or counties in which it is located under s. 59.10
(a)or
(b)1. , and shall divide itself into wards in such a manner that will permit the creation of county supervisory districts in accordance with the population requirements for the plan specified in s. 59.10
(a)or
(b)1.
(e)If territory is detached from a city, village or town after April 1 of the year of the federal decennial census, and the remaining portion of the ward to which it was attached falls below the prescribed minimum population for the applicable range, the remaining portion of the population may be constituted a ward by itself.
(f)Any city, village or town may establish a ward below the prescribed minimum population for the applicable range whenever the proposed ward is established under par.
(a),
(d)or
(e)or whenever the proposed ward contains solely:
1. That part of a city or village situated in a county other than the county in which the major part of the municipality is located.
2. That part of a city, village or town belonging to a school district other than the school district to which the major part of the municipality belongs.
3. Island territory containing a resident population. In this subdivision, “island territory” means territory surrounded by water, or noncontiguous territory which is separated by the territory of another municipality or by water, or both, from the major part of the municipality to which it belongs.
4. New territory which becomes a part of a city, village or town after April 1 of the year of the federal decennial census.
5. Territory that lies between an actual municipal boundary that existed on April 1 of the year of a federal decennial census and an intersecting municipal boundary that deviates from the actual municipal boundary on that date if the deviating boundary was used by the U.S. bureau of the census to enumerate the population of the municipality in that census.