66.0721 Special assessments on certain farmland or camps for construction of sewerage or water system.

(1) In this section:

(a) “Agricultural use" has the meaning given in s. 91.01 (2) and includes any additional agricultural uses of land, as determined by the town sanitary district or town.

(ae) “Camp" means all real property and the personal property situated therein, of any camp conducted by a nonprofit corporation, a charitable trust, or other nonprofit association that is described in section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is exempt from federal tax under section 501 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code and that is organized under the laws of this state, so long as the property is used primarily for camping for children and not for pecuniary profit of any individual.

(b) “Eligible farmland" means land that is eligible for farmland preservation tax credits under ss. 71.58 to 71.61 or 71.613.

(2) Except as provided in sub. (3), no town sanitary district or town may levy any special assessment on eligible farmland or a camp for the construction of a sewerage or water system.

(3)

(a) If any eligible farmland or camp contains a structure that is connected to a sanitary sewer or public water system at the time, or after the time, that a town sanitary district or town first levies a special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system in the service area in which the eligible farmland or camp is located, the town sanitary district or town may levy a special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system on the eligible farmland or camp that includes that structure. If that connection is made after the first assessment, the town sanitary district or town may also charge interest, from the date that the connection is made, on the special assessment at an annual rate that does not exceed the average interest rate paid by the district or town on its obligations between the time the district or town first levies a special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system in the service area in which the eligible farmland or camp is located and the time it levies the special assessment on that eligible farmland or camp. That assessment may not exceed the equivalent of an assessment for that purpose on a square acre or, if the governing body of a town sanitary district or town so specifies by ordinance, the maximum size of any lot that is in that service area and that is not devoted exclusively to agricultural use or exclusively to use as a camp.

(b) If after an initial special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system is levied in a service area any eligible farmland or camp subject to par. (a) or exempted from a special assessment under sub. (2) is divided into 2 or more parcels at least one of which is not devoted exclusively to agricultural use or exclusively to use as a camp, the town sanitary district or town may levy on each parcel on which it has either levied a special assessment under par. (a) or has not levied a special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system a special assessment for that purpose that does not exceed the amount of the special assessment for that purpose that would have been levied on the parcel if the parcel had not been exempt under sub. (2) or that has already been levied under par. (a). The special assessment shall be apportioned among the parcels resulting from the division in proportion to their area. The town sanitary district or town may also charge interest, from the date the eligible farmland or camp is divided into 2 or more parcels at least one of which is not devoted exclusively to agricultural use or exclusively to use as a camp, on the special assessment at an annual rate that does not exceed the average interest rate paid by the district or town on its obligations between the time the district or town first levies a special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system in the service area in which the eligible farmland or camp is located and the time it levies the special assessment on that eligible farmland or camp under this paragraph. This paragraph does not apply to any eligible farmland or camp unless the town sanitary district or town records a lien on that eligible farmland or camp in the office of the register of deeds within 90 days after it first levies a special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system for the service area in which the eligible farmland or camp is located, describing either the applicability of par. (a) or the exemption under sub. (2) and the potential for a special assessment under this paragraph.

(c) If, after a town sanitary district or town first levies a special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system in a service area, the eligible farmland or camp in that service area exempted from the special assessment under sub. (2) is not devoted exclusively to agricultural use or exclusively to use as a camp for a period of one year or more, the town sanitary district or town may levy on that eligible farmland or camp the special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system that it would have levied if the eligible farmland or camp had not been exempt under sub. (2). The town sanitary district or town may also charge interest, from the date the eligible farmland or camp has not been devoted exclusively to agricultural use or exclusively to use as a camp for a period of at least one year, on the special assessment at an annual rate that does not exceed the average interest rate paid by the district or town on its obligations between the time the district or town first levies a special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system in the service area in which the eligible farmland or camp is located and the time it levies the special assessment on that eligible farmland or camp. This paragraph does not apply to any land unless the town or special purpose district records a lien on that eligible farmland or camp in the office of the register of deeds within 90 days after it first levies a special assessment for the construction of a sewerage or water system in the service area in which the eligible farmland or camp is located, describing the exemption under sub. (2) and the potential for a special assessment under this paragraph.

History: 1999 a. 150 ss. 208, 530; Stats. 1999 s. 66.0721; 2007 a. 226; 2009 a. 28.