[Amended 10-13-2015; 5-10-2022]
A. Composition.
(1) The Board of Review shall consist of the Chairperson, Town Board
Supervisors and Town Clerk, or qualified designees as prescribed in
§ 70.46 Wis. Stats.
(2) No Board of Review may be constituted unless it includes at least
one voting member who has attended a training session in each year
under § 73.03(55), Wis. Stats. The Town Clerk shall provide
an affidavit to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue stating whether
the requirement under this subsection has been fulfilled.
B. Duties. The duties and functions of the Board of Review shall be
as prescribed in §§ 70.46 and 70.47, Wis. Stats.
C. Meetings. The Board of Review shall meet annually during the forty-five-day
period starting the fourth Monday of April, at the Community Center
Building of the Town of Woodruff, and notice of such meeting shall
be published pursuant to the state statutes. The Board, through its
Clerk, shall establish its meeting hours pursuant to § 70.47(3)(b),
Wis. Stats. The Board may adjourn from day to day or from time to
time, until such time as its business is completed, provided that
adequate notice of each adjournment is so given.
D. Compensation. Compensation for Board of Review members shall be as
established by the Town Board.
E. Open meetings. All meetings of the Board of Review shall be publicly
held and open to all citizens at all times. No formal action of any
kind shall be introduced, deliberated upon or adopted at any closed
session or meeting of the Board of Review.
F. Procedures and criteria for allowing alternative forms of sworn testimony
at Board of Review (BOR) hearings.
(1) Procedure.
(a)
In order for a property owner or property owner's representative
to submit a request to testify by phone or submit a sworn written
statement, he or she must first comply with the following procedures:
[1]
The legal requirement to provide notice of intent to appear
at BOR must be satisfied; and
[2]
An Objection Form for Real Property Assessment (PA-115A) must
be completed and submitted to the BOR as required by law.
(b)
After the two requirements outlined above have been met, a Request
to Testify by Telephone or Submit a Sworn Written Statement at Board
of Review (Form PA-814) may be submitted to the Town Clerk. Such requests
must be submitted in time to be considered by the Board at the first
meeting of the BOR.
(2) Criteria to be considered. The Board may consider any or all of the
following factors when deciding whether to grant or deny the request:
(a)
The requester's stated reason(s) for the request as indicated
on the PA-814.
(c)
Ability of the requester to procure in-person oral testimony
and any due diligence exhibited by the requester in procuring such
testimony.
(d)
Ability to cross-examine the person providing the testimony.
(e)
The BOR's technical capacity to honor the request.
(f)
Any other factors that the Board deems pertinent to deciding
the request.
G. Confidentiality.
(1) Adoption. This section adopts by reference § 70.47(7)(af),
Wis. Stats. Income and expense information provided by a property
owner to an assessor for the purposes of establishing the valuation
for assessment purposes by the income method of valuation shall be
confidential and not a public record open to inspection or copying
under § 19.35(1) of Wis. Stats.
(2) Exceptions: An officer may make disclosure of such information under
the following circumstances:
(a)
The assessor has access to such information in the performance
of his/her duties;
(b)
The Board of Review may review such information when needed,
in its opinion, to decide upon a contested assessment;
(c)
Another person or body has the right to review such information
due to the intimate relationship to the duties of an office or as
set by law;
(d)
The officer is complying with a court order;
(e)
The person providing the income and expense information has
contested the assessment level at either the Board of Review of by
filing a claim for excessive assessment under § 74.37, Wis.
Stats., in which case the base records are open and public.
(3) Severability. The several sections of this section are declared to
be severable. If any section or portion thereof shall be declared
by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable,
such decision shall apply only to the specific section or portion
thereof directly specified in the decision, and shall not affect the
validity of any other provisions, sections, or portions thereof of
the section. The remainder of the section shall remind in full force
and effect. Any other ordinances whose terms are in conflict with
the provisions of this section are hereby repealed as to those terms
that conflict.
(4) Effective date. This section shall take effect immediately upon passage
and posting (or publication) as provided by law.
No person not a legal resident of the Town of
Woodruff shall be elected or appointed in a voting capacity to any
Town board, committee or commission. Any voting board, commission
or committee member who moves from the Town shall immediately be removed
from such board or committee.