75.69 Sale of tax delinquent real estate.

(1) Except as provided in sub. (1m), no tax delinquent real estate acquired by a county may be sold unless the sale and appraised value of such real estate has first been advertised by publication of a class 3 notice, under ch. 985. Any county may accept the bid most advantageous to it but, at the first attempt to sell the property, every bid less than the appraised value of the property shall be rejected. Any county is authorized to sell for any amount any land previously advertised for sale after advertising the sale of such land by publication of a class 1 notice, under ch. 985; except that no property may be sold for an amount that is less than the property's appraised value unless the county board or a committee designated by the county board has reviewed and approved such a sale and no property may be sold for an amount that is less than the amount of the highest bid unless the county board or a committee designated by the county board prepares a written statement, available for public inspection, that explains the reasons for accepting a bid that is less than the highest bid. In this subsection, “appraised value" means the value determined, at the discretion of the county board, by the county board, a committee designated by the county board, or a certified appraiser, as defined in s. 458.01 (7).

(1m)

(a) Subsection (1) does not apply to counties with a population of 750,000 or more.

(b) Notwithstanding sub. (1), any county may advertise the sale of any or all of its real estate that has been tax delinquent for at least 4 years by publishing a class 3 notice under ch. 985, indicating in which municipality or municipalities and in which ward or wards the real estate is located and the place and date for filing written bids but without listing specific parcels or appraised values for the parcels, if the county makes readily available in the courthouse a list of the parcels and the appraised value of each parcel.

(2) This section shall not apply to exchange of property under s. 59.69 (8), to withdrawal and sale of county forest lands, nor to the sale or exchange of lands to or between municipalities or to the state.

(3) This section shall apply to all tax delinquent lands regardless of the date of acquisition by the county.

(4) No tax delinquent real estate may be sold by a county under this section unless notice of such sale is mailed to the clerk of the municipality in which the real estate is located at least 3 weeks prior to the time of the sale. Any county may sell tax delinquent real estate by open or closed bid.

History: 1983 a. 344; 1987 a. 378; 1995 a. 201; 2003 a. 123; 2017 a. 207 s. 5.

Counties may not transfer county owned mineral rights, acquired through nonpayment of taxes to private persons without following the appraisal and public sale provisions of this section. 67 Atty. Gen. 236.

When a county proceeds under sub. (1), it can accept a bid it considers, in good faith, to be most advantageous to the county in view of the criteria in the bid notice. 70 Atty. Gen. 1.