Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 66 - General municipality law.
66.0221 - Annexation of and creation of town islands.

66.0221 Annexation of and creation of town islands.
(1) Upon its own motion and subject to sub. (3) and ss. 66.0301 (6) (d) and 66.0307 (7), a city or village, by a two-thirds vote of the entire membership of its governing body, may enact an ordinance annexing territory which comprises a portion of a town or towns and which was completely surrounded by territory of the city or village on December 2, 1973. The ordinance shall include all surrounded town areas except those that are exempt by mutual agreement of all of the governing bodies involved. The annexation ordinance shall contain a legal description of the territory and the name of the town or towns from which the territory is detached. Upon enactment of the ordinance, the city or village clerk immediately shall file 6 certified copies of the ordinance with the secretary of administration, together with 6 copies of a scale map. The city or village shall also file with the county clerk or board of election commissioners the report required by s. 5.15 (4) (b). The secretary of administration shall forward 2 copies of the ordinance and scale map to the department of transportation, one copy to the department of natural resources, one copy to the department of revenue and one copy to the department of administration. This subsection does not apply if the town island was created only by the annexation of a railroad right-of-way or drainage ditch. This subsection does not apply to land owned by a town government which has existing town government buildings located on the land. No town island may be annexed under this subsection if the island consists of over 65 acres or contains over 100 residents. Section 66.0217 (11) applies to annexations under this subsection. Except as provided in sub. (2), after December 2, 1973, no city or village may, by annexation, create a town area which is completely surrounded by the city or village.
(2) A city or village may, by annexation, create a town area that is completely surrounded by the city or village if a cooperative plan for boundary change under s. 66.0301 (6) or 66.0307, to which the town and the annexing city or village are parties, applies to the territory that is annexed.
(3)
(a)
1. Except as provided in subd. 2., no territory may be annexed by a city or village under this section unless the city or village agrees to pay annually to the town, for 5 years, an amount equal to the amount of property taxes that the town levied on the annexed territory, as shown by the tax roll under s. 70.65, in the year in which the annexation is final.
2. No payments under subd. 1. must be made if the city or village, and the town, enter into a boundary agreement under s. 66.0225, 66.0301, or 66.0307.
(b) No territory may be annexed by a city or village under this section if no part of the city or village is located in the same county as the territory that is subject to the proposed annexation unless all of the following occur:
1. The town board adopts a resolution approving the proposed annexation.
2. The county board of the county in which the territory is located adopts a resolution approving the proposed annexation.
History: 1999 a. 150 s. 62; 2001 a. 16; 2003 a. 317; 2007 a. 43; 2015 a. 55; 2017 a. 360.
A town from which 2 town islands were detached by annexation had no standing to challenge the constitutionality of the statute. Town of Germantown v. Village of Germantown, 70 Wis. 2d 704, 235 N.W.2d 486 (1975).
This is a clear and unambiguous provision allowing, with certain exceptions, for the annexation by a city or village in a single ordinance all town islands meeting the statutorily defined criteria. Annexation by a city of 7 separate town islands via 7 separate municipal ordinances was impermissible under s. 66.021 (15) [now s. 66.0221] since the power to annex must be exercised by a municipality in strict conformity with the statute conferring it. Town of Blooming Grove v. City of Madison, 70 Wis. 2d 770, 235 N.W.2d 493 (1975).
The statute does not prohibit a “functional town island." Wagner Mobil, Inc. v. City of Madison, 190 Wis. 2d 585, 527 N.W.2d 301 (1995).

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