Section 66.0229. Consolidation.

 

(1)   General procedures. Subject to ss. 66.0301 (6) (d) and 66.0307 (7) , a town, village or city may be consolidated with a contiguous town, village or city, by ordinance, passed by a two-thirds vote of all the members of each board or council, fixing the terms of the consolidation and ratified by the electors at a referendum held in each municipality. The ballots shall bear the words, “for consolidation", and “against consolidation", and if a majority of the votes cast in each municipality are for consolidation, the ordinances shall take effect and have the force of a contract. The ordinance and the result of the referendum shall be certified as provided in s. 66.0211 (5) ; if a town the certification shall be preserved as provided in ss. 66.0211 (5) and 66.0235 , respectively. Consolidation does not affect the preexisting rights or liabilities of any municipality and actions on those rights or liabilities may be commenced or completed as if there were no consolidation. A consolidation ordinance proposing the consolidation of a town and a city or village shall, within 10 days after its adoption and prior to its submission to the voters for ratification at a referendum, be submitted to the circuit court and the department of administration for a determination of whether the proposed consolidation is in the public interest. The circuit court shall determine whether the proposed ordinance meets the formal requirements of this section and shall then refer the matter to the department of administration, which shall find as prescribed in s. 66.0203 whether the proposed consolidation is in the public interest in accordance with the standards in s. 66.0207 . The department's findings have the same status as incorporation findings under ss. 66.0203 to 66.0213 .

(2)   Town of Rochester in Racine county and the village of Rochester may consolidate. The town of Rochester, in Racine County, and the village of Rochester may consolidate if all of the procedures contained sub. (1) are fulfilled, except that the consolidation ordinance need not be submitted to the circuit court for a determination and the department of administration for a public interest finding, as otherwise required, and the consolidation may be completed without any circuit court determination or department of administration findings.

1977 c. 29 ; 1979 c. 361 s. 112 ; 1983 a. 532 s. 36 ; 1991 a. 39 , 269 ; 1995 a. 27 , ss. 3307 and 9116 (5) ; 1995 a. 216 ; 1997 a. 27 ; 1999 a. 150 s. 42 ; Stats. 1999 s. 66.0229; 2003 a. 93 ; 2007 a. 20 , 43 .