Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 60 - Towns.
60.77 - Powers and duties.

60.77 Powers and duties.
(1) Authority of the commission. The commission has charge of all affairs of the town sanitary district.
(2) Corporate status. The district is a body corporate with the powers of a municipal corporation for the purposes of carrying out this subchapter. The district may sue and be sued and may enter into contracts. The commission may provide for a corporate seal of the town sanitary district.
(3) Compensation; expenses. The town board of the town having the largest portion of the equalized full value of all taxable property in the district may fix the compensation of the commissioners, the secretary and the treasurer. The commissioners and the secretary and treasurer of the commission may receive actual and necessary expenses incurred while in the performance of the duties of the office in addition to any other compensation.
(4) General powers and duties. The commission may project, plan, construct and maintain a water, solid waste collection and sewerage system, including drainage improvements, sanitary sewers, surface sewers or storm water sewers, or all of the improvements or activities or any combination of them necessary for the promotion of the public health, comfort, convenience or welfare of the district. The commission may provide chemical or mechanical treatment of waters for the suppression of swimmers' itch, algae and other nuisance-producing aquatic growths.
(5) Specific powers. The commission may:
(a) Sell any of its services to users outside of its corporate limits.
(b) Require the installation of private on-site wastewater treatment systems.
(bm) Require the inspection of private on-site wastewater treatment systems that have been already installed to determine compliance with the state plumbing code and may report violations of the state plumbing code to the governmental unit responsible for the regulation of private on-site wastewater treatment systems for enforcement under s. 145.20.
(bs) Provide direct financial assistance for costs related to the replacement of private on-site wastewater treatment systems that are failing.
(c) Issue rules or orders, which shall be published either in their entirety, as a class 1 notice under ch. 985, or as a notice, as described under sub. (5s) (b).
(d) Provide an office for the district.
(e) Fix and collect charges for solid waste collection and disposal, sewage service and water service. The commission may fix and collect sewage service charges under s. 66.0821 and water service charges under s. 66.0809.
(f) Except as provided in s. 66.0721, levy special assessments to finance the activities of the district, using the procedures under s. 66.0703.
(g) Provide for the operation as a single enterprise of its water, solid waste or sewerage system, or any part or combination of parts of the system.
(h) Lease or acquire, including by condemnation, any real property situated in this state and any personal property that may be needed for the purposes of this subchapter.
(i) Sell, convey or dispose of any part of its interest in real or personal property which it has acquired that is not needed to carry out the powers and duties of the commission.
(j) Administer the private on-site wastewater treatment system program if authorized under s. 145.20 (1) (am).
(k) Gather at the site of a public works project that has been approved by the commission for the sole purpose of inspecting the work that has been completed or that is in progress if, before gathering at the site, the president of the commission or the president's designee notifies by telephone or facsimile transmission those news media who have filed a written request for notice of such inspections in relation to that project and if the president of the commission or the president's designee submits at the next commission meeting a report that describes the inspection. The commission may not take any official action at the inspection site.
(5m) Authority to enact ordinances. The commission may enact and enforce ordinances to implement the powers listed under sub. (5). The ordinances shall be published either in their entirety, as a class 1 notice under ch. 985, or as a notice, as described under sub. (5s) (b).
(5s) Requirements for notice.
(a) In this subsection, “summary" has the meaning given in s. 59.14 (1m) (a).
(b) A notice of an ordinance, rule, or order that may be published under this subsection shall be published as a class 1 notice under ch. 985 and shall contain at least all of the following:
1. The number and title of the ordinance, rule, or order.
2. The date of enactment.
3. A summary of the subject matter and main points of the ordinance, rule, or order.
4. Information as to where the full text of the ordinance, rule, or order may be obtained, including the phone number of the commission's secretary, a street address where the full text of the ordinance, rule, or order may be viewed, and a website, if any, at which the ordinance, rule, or order may be accessed.
(6) Specific duties. The commission shall:
(a) Let contracts for any work or purchase that involves an expenditure of $25,000 or more to the lowest responsible bidder in the manner prescribed by the commission. Section 66.0901 applies to contracts let under this paragraph.
(b) On or before November 1 of each year, levy a tax on all taxable property in the district and apportion the tax among the municipalities in which the district is located on the basis of equalized full value, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this subchapter. The amount of the tax in excess of that required for maintenance and operation of the district and for principal and interest on bonds or promissory notes may not exceed, in any one year, one mill on each dollar of the equalized full value of all taxable property in the district. The commission shall certify in writing to the clerk of every municipality in which the district is located the total amount of tax levied in the municipality.
(7) Interest in contracts; penalty. No commissioner may have an interest, directly or indirectly, in a contract with, work or labor done for or material furnished to the town sanitary district or to anyone on the district's behalf, unless the interest is in a contract not exceeding $1,000 in any one year or in the publication of required legal notices by the district or a commissioner if the publication rate does not exceed the rate prescribed by law. A commissioner who violates this subsection shall forfeit not less than $50 nor more than $500.
History: 1983 a. 532; 1989 a. 31, 56, 159, 322; 1991 a. 39; 1993 a. 16; 1995 a. 185, 349, 378; 1999 a. 150 s. 672; 2001 a. 16; 2005 a. 202; 2007 a. 72; 2011 a. 146; 2017 a. 365 s. 112.
Sub. (6) (b) does not prevent the levy under s. 66.09 (1) (b) [now s. 66.0117 (2) (b)] of the full amount of a judgment against a district. Davy Engineering Co. v. Town of Mentor, 221 Wis. 2d 744, 585 N.W.2d 832 (Ct. App. 1998), 97-3575.
Sub. (5) (f) authorizes town sanitary districts to levy special assessments and makes the procedures under s. 66.0703 applicable to those districts. As such, service of a notice of appeal on the district clerk was proper under this section. Mayek v. Cloverleaf Lakes Sanitary District #1, 2000 WI App 182, 238 Wis. 2d 261, 617 N.W.2d 235, 99-2895.

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