66.0235 Adjustment of assets and liabilities on division of territory.

1,148 words·~5 min read·/wi/chapter-66/66-0235-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

(1)Definition. In this section, “local governmental unit” means town sanitary districts, school districts, technical college districts, towns, villages and cities.

(2)Basis.

(a)Except as otherwise provided in this section or in s. 60.79

(c)when territory is transferred, in any manner provided by law, from one local governmental unit to another, there shall be assigned to the latter local governmental unit such proportion of the assets and liabilities of the first local governmental unit as the assessed valuation of all taxable property in the territory transferred bears to the assessed valuation of all the taxable property of the entire local governmental unit from which the territory is taken according to the last assessment roll of the local governmental unit. The clerk of a local governmental unit to which territory is transferred, within 30 days of the effective date of the transfer, shall certify to the clerk of the local governmental unit from which territory was transferred and to the clerk of the school district in which the territory is located a metes and bounds description of the land area involved. Upon receipt of the description the clerk of the local governmental unit from which the territory was transferred shall certify to the department of revenue and to the clerk of the school district in which the territory is located the latest assessed value of the real and personal property located within the transferred territory, and shall make any further reports as needed by the department of revenue in the performance of duties required by law.

(b)When the transfer of territory from one local governmental unit to another results from the incorporation of a new city or village, the proportion of the assets and liabilities assigned to the new city or village shall be based on the average assessed valuation for the preceding 5 years of the property transferred in proportion to the average assessed valuation for the preceding 5 years of all the taxable property of the entire local governmental unit from which the territory is taken, according to the assessment rolls of the local governmental unit for those years. The certification by the clerk of the local governmental unit from which territory was transferred because of the incorporation shall include the assessed value of the real and personal property within the territory transferred for each of the last 5 years. The preceding 5 years shall include the assessment rolls for the 5 calendar years prior to the incorporation.

(2c)School districts.

(a)Standard procedure.

1. When territory is transferred in any manner provided by law from one school district to another, there shall be assigned to each school district involved such proportion of the assets and liabilities of the school districts involved as the equalized valuation of all taxable property in the territory transferred bears to the equalized valuation of all taxable property of the school district from which the territory is taken. The equalized valuation shall be certified by the department of revenue upon application by the clerk of the school district to which the territory is transferred.

2. The clerk of any school district to which territory is transferred, within 30 days of the effective date of the transfer, shall certify to the clerk of the local governmental unit from which the territory was transferred a metes and bounds description of the land area involved. Upon receipt of the description the clerk of the local governmental unit from which the territory was transferred shall certify to the department of revenue the latest assessed value of the real and personal property located within the transferred territory, file one copy of the certification with the school district clerk and one copy with the department of public instruction and make any further reports as needed by the department of revenue in the performance of duties required by law.

(b)Alternative procedure. Two or more school districts may, by identical resolutions adopted by a three-fourths vote of the members of each school board concerned, establish an alternative method to govern any adjustment of their assets and liabilities. The authority of this paragraph applies wherever the boards find that the adoption of the resolution is necessary to provide a more equitable method than is provided in par.

(a). The resolutions shall be adopted no later than 120 days after the effective date of the transfer of territory and may be adopted prior to the transfer. The resolutions adopted shall be recorded in the office of the register of deeds.

(2m)Attachment and detachment within 5 years. If territory is attached to or consolidated with a school district, and the territory or any part of the territory is detached from the district within 5 years after the attachment or consolidation, the school district to which it is transferred is entitled, in the apportionment of assets and liabilities, only to the assets or liabilities or proportionate part apportioned to the school district as the result of the original attachment or consolidation.

(3)Real estate.

(a)The title to real estate may not be transferred under this section except by agreement, but the value of real estate shall be included in determining the assets of the local governmental unit owning the real estate and in making the adjustment of assets and liabilities.

(b)The right to possession and control of school buildings and sites passes to the school district in which they are situated immediately upon the attachment or detachment of any school district territory becoming effective, except that in 1st class city school districts the right to possession and control of school buildings and sites passes on July 1 following the adoption of the ordinance authorized by s. 66.0217

(8). The asset value of school buildings and sites shall be the value of the use of the buildings and sites, which shall be determined at the time of adjustment of assets and liabilities.

(c)When as a result of an annexation a school district is left without a school building, any moneys are received by the school district as a result of the division of assets and liabilities required by this section, which are derived from values that were capital assets, the moneys and interest on the moneys shall be held in trust by the school district and dispensed only for procuring new capital assets or remitted to an operating district as the remainder of the suspended district becomes a part of the operating district, and may not be used to meet current operating expenditures. The boards involved shall, as part of their duties in division of assets and liabilities in school districts, make a written report of the allocation of assets and liabilities to the state superintendent of public instruction and any local superintendent of schools whose territory is involved in the division of assets.