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Local Government Explained: Why do town residents get to vote on important decisions?

The Town of Baileys Harbor wants to purchase the former Nelson’s Hardware property, but it needs authorization from residents. Town leadership will ask for that permission during the annual town meeting April 20. If one of Door County’s villages or the City of Sturgeon Bay decided to purchase property, no such permission would be required. That’s because villages, cities and towns are not interchangeable, but specific words defining distinct forms of local government that have different powers. 

The largest number of local government units in Door County are towns. All of them are statutorily bound to hold their annual meeting on the third Tuesday in April, or within 10 days of that date. 

In recognition of the annual town meetings coming up April 20, we’re spelling out the differences between towns, villages and cities, using the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and the Wisconsin Towns Association as sources. We’ll also explain town residents’ powers and authorities, and what they can decide directly at those town meetings.

The Creation of Towns, Villages and Cities

The Badger State’s beginnings started with counties, which were established even before statehood in 1848. Those counties – now numbering 72 – were divided into towns beginning in 1827, also before statehood. Over time, parts of those Wisconsin towns were chunked off by incorporation into new jurisdictions, known as villages and cities. 

A village or city starts with a petition from residents within a certain area who desire greater governmental services. Once incorporated as these self-contained municipal corporations, cities and villages have both constitutional and statutory home-rule power. This means they have greater flexibility to govern themselves without interference from the state government.

Towns are unincorporated. They were instead created by the Wisconsin Constitution. As such, towns can implement only those functions authorized by state law – specifically, Chapter 60 of state statute. 

Not Much Difference between Cities and Villages

The number of Wisconsin villages increases by one or two annually, according to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities (LWM), as urbanizing towns petition for and are granted the authority to incorporate. Unlike the number of villages, Wisconsin has had 190 cities for a number of decades.The simplest answer for why a village would choose to remain a village, according to the LWM, is that there is no reason to make the change when Wisconsin villages are now able to exercise largely the same powers as cities. 

Villages can be urban, rural or suburban. Wisconsin’s largest village, the village of Menomonee Falls in Waukesha County, has a population of 37,413 and ranks as Wisconsin’s 21st largest municipality. Villages can, of course, be small, and many are – but none can be smaller than 150 residents.

How Towns Differ from Cities and Villages

Cities and villages collect taxes, hold elections, maintain roads and provide urban services such as water, sewer, garbage, recycling, zoning, planning, parks and recreation, libraries, and police and fire protection. They can annex land to grow larger and have broader taxing authorities to create Tax Increment Financing Districts. 

Towns collect taxes, hold elections and oversee local road maintenance at a minimum. They may also provide additional services in the areas of land-use planning, public works and public safety, for example, but generally not the full spectrum of urban services provided by cities and villages. 

Counties are handmaidens of the state. Towns, as unincorporated jurisdictions within a county, are subject to mandatory and voluntary county/state oversight. All 14 Door County towns, for example, are subject to county shoreland and floodplain zoning ordinances. When it comes to comprehensive county zoning, towns can choose to adopt it or not, as nine have done in Door County.

The Powers and Authorities of Town Electors

Cities and villages work exclusively on the representative model: voters elect mayors, alders, village presidents and trustees, who then govern for the electors.

Town supervisors and chairs are also elected and oversee day-to-day governmental operations. But town governments have components of direct democracy, with electors, or residents, making important decisions directly. To qualify as a town elector who’s eligible to vote on town decisions, a resident must be 18 years or older. The individual neither has to own property nor be registered to vote in regular elections.

“Towns have, to some extent, the greatest form of democracy in the state,” said Carol Nawrocki, an attorney and assistant director of the Wisconsin Towns Association. 

The Decisions Town Electors Can Make

Perhaps the electors’ greatest power is the ability to set the town’s tax levy, or the amount that will be collected from property owners annually. This is generally done in the fall. Electors can give this power to the town board, but very few have. 

“Out of the 1,250 towns in the state, less than 50 have given that authority to the town board,” Nawrocki said.

For towns with populations under 2,000 – all towns in Door County – the electors can also authorize the town board to exceed the levy limit.

Other direct powers include setting the compensation for town offices; deciding whether some town offices should be combined, such as the clerk and treasurer; establishing hourly wages for employees; hiring a town administrator; authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds; leasing, constructing or purchasing buildings; disposing of property; and engaging in watershed protection or soil- and water-conservation activities.

Some of the powers town electors have are binding on a town; others are not. Both are spelled out in state statute. Binding powers obligate the town to do what the voters decided. With authorization powers, such as purchases, “the town has to get elector approval to proceed, but after, they [the town] don’t have to proceed with it,” Nawrocki said.

This is not an exhaustive list of electors’ powers. For that, head to Section 60.10 in Wisconsin Statutes to read about the powers of town meetings. 

Annual Meeting Conversations

Nasewaupee intends to float an advisory question on room tax

Annual meetings, unlike other town meetings, are “unusual in that there is no requirement to have a set agenda,” Nawrocki said. 

So although elector direct powers are discussed or voted on, people do bring up other things. If the town chair allows it, those things can be discussed, but any consensus or vote is advisory only. 

Steve Sullivan, Nasewaupee Town Board chair, said he may bring up an advisory question about a room-tax increase during the town’s April 20 meeting at the town hall, 3388 Cty PD, at 7 pm. The proposal has been circulating around the county to raise the room tax from 5.5% to 8%. Nine municipalities have supported the measure to date, but Nasewaupee has not officially weighed in.

Sullivan said he also believed some electors would want to talk about ATV use on town roads. Again, that discussion would be advisory only.

Village Powers for Towns

Gibraltar will ask electors to tidy the record April 20

A town can adopt village powers, which give the town some of the same regulatory powers as a village, without the town actually becoming a village. Towns that have comprehensive planning, or planning committees and ordinances, or ordinances regulating nonmetallic mines, for example, must have adopted those village powers, Nawrocki said. The Town of Egg Harbor, which had adopted village powers long ago, used that authority recently as a basis for denying the construction of a Dollar General store.

The Town of Gibraltar, which adopted village powers back in 1931, wants to clarify that decision with a new resolution. Electors will be asked to vote on that April 20, at the annual town meeting to be held at the Fire Station, 3496 Cty F, at 7 pm.

Beth Hagen, Gibraltar clerk-treasurer-administrator said that, while looking for other records, she discovered that the town’s village powers had been adopted, but the resolution had not been made official. The town’s attorney and board decided to clean up the record.

“It doesn’t negate our county zoning,” Hagen said.

The resolution Gibraltar residents will be asked to vote on reads as follows: The Town Board of the Town of Gibraltar is authorized to exercise zoning authority under s. 60.10(2)(h), Wis. Stats., which power shall be a general and continuing power for the town board.

Nawrocki said this kind of housekeeping to create a strong record isn’t uncommon among towns, particularly with old records.

“They will go back to have village powers voted on again to get a clear record so it can’t be taken away,” Nawrocki said. 

VILLAGE GOVERNMENT

Number of Villages in Wisconsin: 413

Number of Villages in Door County: 4 (Egg Harbor, Ephraim, Forestville and Sister Bay)

A village board is made up of trustees and a village president. The board serves as the executive officer and legislative body of the village. The village president and trustees are elected at large. Villages have more in common with cities than they do with towns.

Village presidents preside at meetings but are not considered the chief executive officer of the village and do not have veto power. Like any other trustee, village presidents vote on all measures and are counted in determining whether a quorum is present. 

CITY GOVERNMENT

Number of Cities in Wisconsin: 190

Number of Cities in Door County: 1 (Sturgeon Bay)

A city government consists of an elected mayor and a common council. The mayor is the chief executive officer, and the common council is the legislative arm of the city. The members of the council are elected from aldermanic districts, and the mayor is elected at large. 

A mayor has veto power and is the city’s chief executive officer and the head of the police and fire departments, except in cities that have adopted optional powers for police and fire commissions (which Sturgeon Bay has done). A mayor presides at common council meetings but votes only if there’s a tie. The mayor is also not counted in determining whether a quorum is present. 

TOWN GOVERNMENT

Number of Towns in Wisconsin: 1,250

Number of Towns in Door County: 14 (Baileys Harbor, Brussels, Clay Banks, Egg Harbor, Forestville, Gardner, Gibraltar, Jacksonport, Liberty Grove, Nasewaupee, Sevastopol, Sturgeon Bay, Union and Washington)

A town government is made up of elected supervisors and a town chair. Like any other supervisor, town chairs vote on all measures and are counted in determining whether a quorum is present. 

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