Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 88 - Drainage of lands.
88.64 - Assessment against municipalities for enlargement or maintenance of drains.

88.64 Assessment against municipalities for enlargement or maintenance of drains.
(1) In this section:
(a) “Enlarge" means to increase the capacity of a drain to convey water, including adding facilities such as pumps or lift stations, by performing any necessary construction.
(b) “Municipality" means a city, village or town.
(2) A drainage board may assess a municipality with territory upstream from any drain for any costs of enlarging or maintaining the drain that are attributable to increased water flow from land within the municipality. If the drainage board assesses a portion of the costs of enlarging or maintaining a drain against a municipality, the drainage board shall use the procedure under this section.
(3) The drainage board shall obtain a report prepared by a professional engineer who is selected from the list specified in s. 88.21 (5). The report shall include all of the following:
(a) The construction and costs that are necessary to restore the drain so that it conveys the same amount of water as when most recently constructed or enlarged.
(b) The construction and costs that are necessary to enlarge the drain to convey the flow of water from any land in the drainage district or upstream from the drainage district that has been newly drained since the drain was most recently constructed or enlarged.
(c) The construction and costs that are necessary to enlarge the drain to convey the flow of surface water from upstream sources that represents an increase in flow since the drain was most recently constructed or enlarged.
(d) Of the increased flow identified in par. (c), the amount of that flow that is attributable to each municipality with territory in the watershed above the drain, based proportionally on all of the following:
1. The increased flow into the drain from impermeable surfaces such as roads, parking lots or roofs since the drain was most recently constructed or enlarged, whether or not the impermeable surfaces are within the watershed.
2. The increased flow into the drain from the discharge of wastewater from a sewage treatment plant since the drain was most recently constructed or enlarged, whether or not the source of the wastewater is within the watershed.
(e) The maintenance costs that are attributable to the flow of surface water from upstream sources that represents an increase in flow since the drain was most recently constructed or enlarged.
(4) Upon completion of the report under sub. (3), the drainage board shall set a time and place for a hearing on the report and shall give the notice under s. 88.05 (2) (b) to the persons specified in s. 88.05 (4) (c) and to the clerk of each municipality identified in the report as responsible for a portion of the costs of enlarging or maintaining the drain. At the hearing on the report, the drainage board shall hear all objections to the report by any aggrieved person. Representatives of a municipality may introduce evidence that tends to establish a different allocation of costs. If the drainage board finds that the report requires modification or amendment, it shall modify or amend the report as the facts warrant.
(5) At the conclusion of the hearing and after completion of the final report, the drainage board shall issue an order directing each municipality to pay the portion of the cost of enlarging or maintaining the drain as determined in the report. If the drainage board orders or allows landowners in the drainage district to pay for the costs of enlarging or maintaining the drain in installments, the drainage board shall permit a municipality to pay the assessment in installments. The drainage board shall mail the order to the clerk of each municipality by certified mail.
(6) Any municipality affected by the order may, within 120 days after receipt of the order under sub. (5), request the state drainage engineer to review the final report and order of the drainage board. The state drainage engineer shall complete the review of the final report and order within 120 days after receiving the request from the municipality. The state drainage engineer shall issue a report on whether the drainage board order complies with the report prepared under sub. (3), including a recommendation that the drainage board affirm, modify and affirm or reverse the order. The state drainage engineer shall mail a copy of the report and recommendation to the drainage board and to each municipality that is subject to an order under sub. (5). Upon receiving the state drainage engineer's report and recommendation, the drainage board shall promptly issue an order to affirm, modify and affirm or reverse its previous order and mail the order by certified mail to the clerk of each municipality affected by the order and the state drainage engineer. The municipalities that request the state drainage engineer to review the report and order shall jointly pay the actual and necessary costs of the review and the payment shall be credited to the appropriation under s. 20.115 (7) (ga).
(7) A municipality affected by a drainage board order issued under sub. (5) or (6) may seek review of the order under s. 88.09, except that a municipality may commence the action within 120 days after receiving the order.
(8) If a municipality pays the costs assessed by an order issued under sub. (5) or (6), it shall pay the costs or make the first payment of the costs on the February 15 following adoption by the municipality of its next annual budget after the order is issued.
History: 1993 a. 456.
NOTE: 1993 Wis. Act 456, which created this section, contains extensive explanatory notes.

Structure Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations