[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Vernon 9-5-2002 (Ch. 5 of the Town Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
A. 
Treasurer's annual report. Each year the Treasurer, at the direction of the Town Board, pursuant to § 60.41, Wis. Stats., shall prepare for the Annual Town Meeting an Annual Treasurer's Report. The report shall contain a summary of taxes levied and collected from the preceding year's tax roll and a statement of current indebtedness of the Town and such other information as from time to time the Town Board may deem necessary and proper.
B. 
Auditor's annual statement. Each year the auditor, at the direction of the Town Board, pursuant to § 60.41, Wis. Stats., shall prepare for the Annual Town Meeting an Annual Financial Statement. The statement shall contain a summary of transactions for the preceding year and a statement of revenues and expenditures for the preceding fiscal year, a current statement of indebtedness of the Town, a statement of the financial condition of the Town, and other such information as from time to time the Town Board may deem necessary and proper.
A. 
Departmental estimates. On or before September 1 of each year, each officer, department and committee shall file with the Town Clerk an itemized statement of disbursements made to carry out the powers and duties of such office, department or committee during the preceding fiscal year, and a detailed statement of the receipts and disbursements on account of any special fund under the supervision of such officer, department or committee during such year, and of the conditions and management of such fund; also detailed estimates of the same matters for the current fiscal year and for the ensuing fiscal year. Such statements shall be presented in the form prescribed by the Town Clerk and shall be designated as "Department Estimates" and shall be as nearly uniform as possible for the main division of all departments.
B. 
Town Board to prepare. Each year the Town Board shall prepare a proposed budget presenting a financial plan for conducting the affairs of the Town for the ensuing calendar year. The budget shall include the following information:
(1) 
The expense of conducting each department and activity of the Town for the ensuing fiscal year and corresponding items for the current year and last preceding fiscal year, with reasons for increase and decrease recommended as compared with appropriations of the current year.
(2) 
An itemization of all anticipated income of the Town from sources other than general property taxes and bonds issued, with the comparative statement of the amounts received by the Town from each of the same or similar sources for the last preceding and current fiscal year.
(3) 
An estimate of the amount of money to be raised from general property taxes which, with income from other sources, will be necessary to meet the proposed expenditures.
(4) 
Such other information as may be required by the Town Board and by state law.
(5) 
The budget summary shall include all of the following for the proposed budget and the budget in effect and shall also include the percentage of change between the budget of the current year and the proposed budget:
(a) 
For the general fund, all expenditures in the following categories:
[1] 
General government.
[2] 
Public safety.
[3] 
Public works.
[4] 
Health and human services.
[5] 
Culture, recreation and education.
[6] 
Conservation and development.
[7] 
Capital outlay.
[8] 
Debt service.
[9] 
Other financing uses.
(b) 
For the general fund, all revenues from the following sources:
[1] 
Taxes.
[2] 
Special assessments.
[3] 
Intergovernmental revenues.
[4] 
Licenses and permits.
[5] 
Fines, forfeitures and penalties.
[6] 
Public charges for services.
[7] 
Intergovernmental charges.
[8] 
Miscellaneous revenue.
[9] 
Other financing sources.
(c) 
All beginning and year-end governmental and proprietary fund balances.
(d) 
The contribution of the property tax to each governmental fund and to each proprietary fund that receives property tax revenue and the totals for all funds.
(e) 
Revenue and expenditure totals, by fund, for each governmental fund and for each proprietary fund and the revenue and expenditure totals for all funds combined.
(6) 
The Town Board shall provide a reasonable number of copies of the prepared budget for distribution to citizens.
C. 
Budget hearing.
(1) 
At least 15 days before the hearing, a summary of the proposed budget and the notice of the place for holding the public hearing thereon shall be posted in three public posting places within the Town.
(2) 
Any resident or taxpayer of the Town shall have an opportunity to be heard on the proposed budget at the hearing.
D. 
Approval of the budget. The Town Board shall adopt the budget for the following year as soon as practicable after completion of the budget hearing.
E. 
Statutes incorporated. Sections 60.40, 60.41, 60.42, 60.43 and 65.90, Wis. Stats., are incorporated herein, including any amendments that may be made thereto in the future. In the event of a conflict between said statutory requirements and the requirements of this § 23-2, said statutes shall be controlling.
The amount of the tax to be levied or certified, the amounts of the various appropriations, and the purposes thereof shall not be changed except by a two-thirds vote of the entire membership of the Town Board. This provision shall not apply to changes in the proposed budget that occur pursuant to a public hearing held for the purpose of considering the proposed budget.
[Amended 12-18-2008 by Ord. No. 2008-06; 5-1-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-03; 12-15-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-14; 7-19-2018 by Ord. No. 2018-04; 2-7-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-02]
A. 
No money shall be drawn from the treasury of the Town of Vernon, nor shall any obligation for the expenditure of money be incurred, except in pursuance of the annual appropriation in the adopted budget or when changed as authorized by § 23-3 of this chapter.
(1) 
At the close of each fiscal year any unencumbered balance of any appropriation shall be subject to re-appropriation by the Town Board.
(2) 
Appropriations may be made by the Town Board, to be paid out of the income of the current year, in furtherance of improvements or works which will not be completed within such year, and such appropriation shall continue in force until the purpose for which it was made shall have been accomplished or abandoned.
(3) 
Department heads must verify availability of the funds in the line item budget prior to a purchase.
(4) 
The Town Board must approve all expenditures for legal fees for an annexation by roll call in Open Session. The Town of Vernon will no longer waive any legal fees, charges, and filing fees to settle an annexation lawsuit, unless the amount is approved by a majority of the Town Board members, by roll call vote.
B. 
The Village Board must pre-approve any agreement or contract between the Village of Vernon and one or more municipalities or parties. The Village shall not enter into any agreement or contract where the Village is to be responsible for the share of the invoice for another entity unless the Village Board has pre-approved an agreement or contract with such entity.
[Amended 3-3-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-03]
C. 
The Town Clerk shall follow the procedures list below for accounts payable:
(1) 
Invoices received in the Clerk's Office are processed for payment only if the following are included with the invoice:
(a) 
A signature of a department head or an authorized individual which indicates goods/services received were in the proper quantities and price authorized.
(b) 
The account number to be charged.
(c) 
The date of approval.
(d) 
All supporting documentation.
(e) 
Verification of funds available in the line item budget.
(2) 
If the invoice does not match the product that was ordered, it will be placed on hold, until the invoice is corrected, or product is received. An e-mail alert will subsequently be sent to the submitter asking him/her to notify the Clerk's Office when the items have been received or the invoice has been corrected. The party requesting these funds must be notified by the Town Clerk that the invoice is being disputed, within 30 days of the invoice date, pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes § 66.0135.
(3) 
Once the Clerk's office receives written documentation from a department head or an authorized individual that the items have been received or the invoice has been corrected, the hold will be removed, and the invoice will be processed for payment.
(4) 
Accounts payable is processed in the Clerk's office and is to be included in the Vernon Town Board packet for review and approval at a Town Board meeting.
(5) 
Checks for approved accounts payable are subsequently processed.
(6) 
The payment for invoices are transferred to the general ledger and posted after they have been approved by the Town Board.
(7) 
The Town Chairman, Clerk/Treasurer and a Town Supervisor appointed by the Town Board shall sign the approved accounts payable checks; only one signature stamp can be used in processing the checks.
[Amended 3-21-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-03]
(8) 
The approved check is then processed by a Deputy Clerk or the Treasurer to be mailed or distributed.
D. 
In the event that a request for payment cannot wait for approval at the next Town Board meeting, the Clerk must contact two Town Board members to explain the need to process the manual check request immediately. The approved manual check request must also be emailed to the Town Board for disclosure. Once this has been completed, the Town Clerk will follow the normal process for payment described in Subsection C, above, and supply the documentation at the next Town Board meeting including the date paid, name of claimant, purpose and amount.
E. 
No bill and/or voucher may be paid by the Town Clerk without prior approval of the Town Board with the exception of Automated Clearing House (ACH) withdrawals approved by resolution. The Town Clerk and Town Treasurer are responsible for implementing the approved Town of Vernon ACH agreements and shall maintain a list of the approved vendors authorized to be paid by ACH transactions.
F. 
The Town Treasurer shall give monthly reports to the Town Board including receipts, disbursements and status of all accounts.
G. 
All funds received by the Town of Vernon must be receipted by the person accepting the funds and placed in the treasurer's locked safe. The Town of Vernon Treasurer's deposited receipts must be entered into the Town's accounting system information. All payments for outstanding invoices will be posted to the customer's account in accounts receivable. Accounts receivable subsidiary ledgers (i.e., AR aging reports) must be reconciled monthly to the general ledger. All aged account reports must be reviewed monthly the Vernon Town Board. Statements for all unpaid accounts will be mailed each month. All delinquent accounts will be placed on the resident's subsequent tax bill and nonresidents should be followed up for collection. Any and all disputed receivables or account receivable invoices must be forwarded to the Vernon Town Board for review and proper resolution.
[Amended 6-19-2008 by Ord. No. 2008-05; 3-21-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-03]
A. 
Signatures required. Pursuant to § 66.0607(3), Wis. Stats., Town Board hereby determines that the Town Clerk/Treasurer, Town Chairperson and a Town Supervisor appointed by the Town Board are required to sign all drafts or order checks or transfer orders, and the same shall not be valid absent all such signatures.
B. 
Facsimile signatures.
(1) 
Use of facsimiles authorized. Pursuant to § 66.0607(3), Wis. Stats., and subject to the provisions of Subsection B(2) and (3) below, the Town Board hereby authorizes the use of facsimile signatures in lieu of personal signatures of the Town Chairperson, Clerk/Treasurer and a Town Supervisor appointed by the Town Board, specifically the facsimile signatures adopted by such persons and approved by the Town Board.
(2) 
Use of facsimiles limited. Notwithstanding the authorization granted in Subsection B(1) above, no more than one facsimile signature may be used on any such draft, order check or transfer check.
(3) 
Permission to affix facsimile signature required. Notwithstanding the authorization granted in Subsection B(1) above, at no time may the facsimile signature of the Town Chairperson, Town Clerk/Treasurer or Town Supervisor appointed by the Town Board be affixed to any draft, order check, or transfer check without the affected officer's express permission to affix his or her facsimile signature to the specific draft, order check, or transfer check involved.
At a Special Town Meeting called for the approval of the tax levy, the Town's qualified electors shall approve a tax levy generated by the Town Board's budget. The Special Town Meeting may be combined with the budget hearing or be held separately.
The tax roll and tax statement shall be prepared as required by Wisconsin State Statutes, and as amended from time to time.
A. 
Applicant. No initial or renewal license, permit, waiver, modification, variance, conditional use approval, special exception, zoning matter or any other discretionary action of the governing body or any of its boards, commissions, departments or employees shall be approved for any applicant who is:
(1) 
Delinquent in the payment of any taxes, assessments, special assessments, personal property taxes, or engineering, legal, administrative or other claim owed to the governing body.
(2) 
Delinquent in the payment of a forfeiture resulting from the violation of any ordinance of the governing body.
(3) 
Delinquent in the payment of any taxes or other claims due to the state or county.
(4) 
Has any outstanding warrant or capias from any municipal, state or federal court.
B. 
Premises or property. No initial or renewal license, permit, variance, conditional use approval, special exception, zoning matter or any other discretionary action of the governing body or any of its boards, commissions, departments or employees shall be issued for any premises or property for which taxes, assessments, special assessments, personal property taxes, or engineering, legal, administrative or other claims of the governing body are delinquent and unpaid.
A. 
Membership. The membership of the Board of Review shall be as described in § 70.46(1), Wis. Stats.
B. 
Alternate members. Pursuant to §§ 70.47(6m)(c) and 70.46(1), Wis. Stats., the Town Board allows for appointments of alternates to serve on the Board of Review in the event a Board member is removed or unable to serve for any reason. The Town Chairperson shall appoint, subject to confirmation of the Town Board, one alternate member for a term of five years. The Town Chairperson may appoint, subject to confirmation of the Town Board, additional alternate members, in addition to the one required alternate member. If more than one alternate member is appointed, the Town Chairperson, subject to confirmation of the Town Board, shall designate one of the existing or newly appointed members as first alternate, one as second alternate, and so forth to establish the priority of all alternate members. The terms of any additional alternate members shall be for five years, unless that term must be reduced by one or more years at the time of appointment to ensure that no two alternate members' terms end in the same year. The first alternate member shall act with full power when three members are absent, refuse, or are otherwise unavailable to hear an objection. The second alternate member (if any) shall act with full power when four members (or three members and the first alternate member) are absent, refuse or are otherwise unavailable to hear an objection. Additional alternate members (if any) shall act, in order of their priority, when necessary to provide three members/alternate members to hear any objection.
C. 
Confidentiality of income and expense information provided to Assessor. Pursuant to § 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), Wis. Stats. Notwithstanding the foregoing, an officer may make disclosure of such information under the following circumstances:
(1) 
The Assessor has access to such information in the performance of his/her duties.
(2) 
The Board of Review may review such information when needed, in its opinion, to decide upon a contested assessment.
(3) 
Another person or body has the right to review such information due to the intimate relationship of the duties of an office or as set by law.
(4) 
The officer is complying with a court order.
(5) 
The person providing the income and expense information has contested the assessment level at either the Board of Review or by filing a claim for excessive assessment under § 74.37, Wis. Stats., in which case the records are open and public.
Whenever either the Town Board, Town Clerk or other Town official contacts or has authorized a property owner in the Town to contact the Town Attorney, Town Engineer, Town Planner or any other of the Town's professional staff or the property owner contacts them directly and any of the aforementioned contacts results in a charge to the Town for that professional's time and services, and said service is not a service supplied to the Town as a whole, then and in that event the Town Clerk shall, pursuant to the provisions of § 66.0627, Wis. Stats., charge that service to said property owner for the fees incurred by the Town. The Town of Vernon Professional Services Reimbursement Notice (Exhibit A) advises residents and requests information from residents regarding the policy outlined in this section.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Exhibit A is on file at the office of the Town Clerk.
A. 
Allowable time to pay. At least 30 days prior to charging any fees for professional services against the current or next tax roll as a delinquent tax against the property, the Town Clerk shall give the property owner to be billed notice of the proposed charge against his/her property, via first-class mail. Such notice shall specify that within 15 days of the date of the notice the property owners may request a hearing before the Town Board regarding the assessment against the property. Such notice shall also include an itemized statement of the professional service fees to be charged.
B. 
Appeal to Town Board. In the event the property owner disputes either the amount of the charges levied or that those charges are not related to his/her property, the owner may appeal said charges before the Town Board within 15 days of the date of notice provided pursuant to Subsection A above by requesting to be placed on the Town Board agenda by contacting the Town Chairperson. Upon receipt of a request for hearing, the Town Board shall hold a hearing regarding the property assessment at its next scheduled meeting or as soon as feasible. Such hearing shall be preceded by public notice and reasonable notice, via first-class mail, to the property owner. In the event a hearing is requested, no charges shall be placed on the tax roll while the matter is pending.
C. 
Special charge. Following the provision of notice and expiration of the time for appeal, or if timely appealed and the Town Board orders that payment be made, thereafter if the charge remains unpaid, the Town Clerk shall automatically charge the delinquent bill against the current or next tax roll as a delinquent tax against the property as provided by law, pursuant to § 66.0627, Wis. Stats. In the event the statement rendered to the property owner or the time given to the property owner to pay is too late in the current year for the charge, when it becomes delinquent, to be extended on that year's tax roll, the delinquent charge shall then be extended to the following tax year's tax roll.
D. 
Persons other than property owner. The Town Clerk shall give persons other than property owners billed for services, as provided for herein, a period of time not to exceed 60 days to pay, and thereafter if that charge is not paid in full the Town Clerk will turn over the bill to the Town's collection agency for payment.
A. 
Request for letters regarding special assessments on property. A fee in an amount established by the Town Board by separate resolution from time to time shall be paid for each request that a Town official or employee issue an opinion as to whether or not special assessments exist regarding a named property. Said resolution may include a separate larger amount in the event that the request demands that the opinion be issued on the same day as the request is made, in consideration of the additional inconvenience caused by such demand.
B. 
Fence viewers. A fee in an amount established by the Town Board by separate resolution from time to time, which may include separate amounts for each day and for each fence viewer, shall be charged to the petitioner requesting fence viewing pursuant to Ch. 90, Wis. Stats. At the time of the petition, fees which total the amount that must be paid for one day of work by three fence viewers must be paid or the application shall be deemed to be incomplete, and this initial fee shall be applied toward the total fee imposed for the fence viewing work.
C. 
Tax search.
(1) 
Definition. The Town Treasurer is authorized to check tax information requested by escrow agents.
(2) 
Fee. For each tax key number checked by the Treasurer or the Treasurer's designee, the Treasurer shall charge the escrow agent an amount established by the Town Board by separate resolution from time to time.
[Amended 3-16-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-05]
A. 
Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the meaning indicated:
[Amended 3-16-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-05]
HOTEL or MOTEL
A building or group of buildings in which the public may obtain accommodations for a consideration, including, without limitation, such establishments as inns, motels, tourist homes, tourist houses or courts, lodging houses, rooming houses, summer camps, apartment hotels, resort lodges and cabins and any other building or group of buildings in which accommodations are available to the public, except accommodations, including mobile homes as defined in § 66.0435(1)(d), Wis. Stats., rented for a continuous period of more than one month and accommodations furnished by any hospitals, sanatoriums, or nursing homes, or by corporations or associations organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable or educational purposes, provided that no part of the net earnings of such corporations and associations inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
TRANSIENT
Any person residing for a continuous period of less than one month in a hotel, motel or other furnished accommodations available to the public.
B. 
Tax imposed. A tax at the rate of 8% or the gross receipts from the sale, performance or furnishing of the following services is imposed for the privilege of selling, performing or furnishing such services as furnishing rooms or lodging to transients by hotelkeepers, motel operators and other persons furnishing accommodations that are available to the public, irrespective of whether membership is required for use of the accommodations.
C. 
Selective sales tax. This tax is not subject to the selective sales tax imposed by § 77.52(2)(a), Wis. Stats.
D. 
Required reports. Every operator of a hotel, motel or other place of public accommodations covered by this section shall submit a quarterly report to the Town Clerk showing the gross receipts from furnishing such accommodations in conjunction with a copy of the state sales tax report for the business and the tax due to the Town. The state sales tax report and tax shall be submitted quarterly, not later than 30 days from the end of each calendar quarter for the receipts of the past calendar quarter. The quarterly report shall be signed by the operator in the presence of a notary public with a statement that the report is true and correct to the best of the operator's information and belief.
E. 
Enforcement.
(1) 
The Town adopts by reference the enforcement provisions in § 66.0615(2), Wis. Stats., as amended from time to time, including:
(a) 
The right to inspect and audit records.
(b) 
A forfeiture of 5% of the tax due for failure to comply with a request to inspect or audit.
(2) 
The Town Clerk with Town Board approval shall determine the tax due in his/her best judgment if the operator of a covered establishment fails, neglects or refuses to furnish a complete report within 60 days of the date it is due.
(3) 
The amount of tax which the Town Clerk and Town Board determine is due under Subsection B of this section is additionally subject to a payment of 1% per month on the unpaid balance. No refund or modification of the amount may be made until the operator files a correct report and allows the Town to inspect and audit the accommodations' financial records.
(4) 
The Town Board may subject any operator who fails to pay a tax when due to an assessment of up to 25% of the room tax due or $5,000, whichever is less.
F. 
Citation. The Town Board is authorized to issue citations for violations.
G. 
Confidentiality. Information obtained by the Town, its agents and officials shall not be disclosed except for persons using the information in the discharge of duties imposed by law or of the duties of their office or by order of the Court. However, the Town may release statistics which do not disclose a taxpayer's identity.
The Town Board shall let, pursuant to the provisions of §§ 66.0901 and 60.47, Wis. Stats., all public contracts as defined in §§ 66.0901(1)(c) and 60.47(1)(a), Wis. Stats., as required by said statutes.
A. 
Town performance of contract. Any public contract or part thereof may be done directly by the Town without submitting the same for bids.
B. 
Contracts with other municipalities. The Town Board may also enter into arrangements with any municipality to do any type of work without the requirement of competitive bidding regardless of amount involved.
[Amended 3-19-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-02]
A. 
Applicability. This section shall apply to the following:
(1) 
The combination of two or more parcels, each of which exists under a separate tax key number, into one parcel existing under one tax key number.
(2) 
The creation of one or more parcels requiring the creation of one or more tax key numbers.
B. 
Person defined. "Person" shall mean any individual, business, corporation, partnership or other entity capable of purchasing and holding land.
C. 
General regulations. No person shall conduct or cause to be conducted any of the activities subject to this section, as provided in Subsection A above, unless that person first satisfies the following requirements:
(1) 
Certified survey map not required. The combination of lots without a certified survey map is allowed in the following strictly limited circumstances, if the following procedures are followed:
(a) 
Limited circumstances. All of the following must be true:
[1] 
Three parcels, with three separate tax key numbers, must be combined to form two parcels with two separate tax key numbers;
[2] 
One of the three parcels must be divided, the division legally described by metes and bounds description, and portions of the parcel must be combined with the other two parcels;
[3] 
The parcel that is divided must be an unbuildable lot prior to the division and combination;
[4] 
The resulting two parcels must each comply with the appropriate zoning district and be buildable lots; and
[5] 
All three of the parcels must not have been divided from, or combined with, other parcels in the immediately preceding five years.
(a-1) 
Correct illegal land divisions. All the following must be true:
[1] 
Two parcels, with two separate tax key numbers, must be combined to form one parcel with one separate tax key number;
[2] 
The staff of the Waukesha County Parks and Land Use Division shall have made a determination in writing that the lots were not legally created and therefore cannot be recognized as separate parcels;
[3] 
The resulting parcel must comply with the appropriate zoning district and be a buildable lot.
(b) 
Procedures. The following procedures must be followed to combine tax key numbers without preparing a certified survey map:
[1] 
Persons applying for the combination shall:
[a] 
Apply to the Town, on the Town's form (Exhibit B),[1] demonstrating the circumstances shown in Subsection C(1)(a) or (a-1)above.
[1]
Editor's Note: Exhibit B is on file at the office of the Town Clerk.
[b] 
Submit to the Town, with the application, separate declaration(s) of restriction(s), one for each of the parcel or parcels that will be created, in a form (Exhibit C) approved by the Town.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Exhibit C is on file at the office of the Town Clerk.
[c] 
Pay to the Town the required fee, as may be established by separate resolution of the Town Board, to cover the Town's administrative and recording expenses.
[2] 
The combination application shall be presented to the Town Plan Commission for review and approval. Approval shall not be provided until the Town Plan Commission determines that the provisions of this section and all other applicable codes and ordinances of the Town and Waukesha County have been met.
[3] 
Upon Town Plan Commission approval, the application shall be presented to the Town Board for review, and the combination shall be subject to the approval of the Town Board.
(2) 
Certified survey map required. In all circumstances where the limitations of Subsection C(1)(a) or (a-1) are not met, the combination or creation of lots as provided in Subsection A above shall only be done through a certified survey map or subdivision plat, which map shall be recorded in the Waukesha County Register of Deeds office by the Town Clerk or his/her designee under the requirements of Ch. 236, Wis. Stats. The certified survey map shall first be presented to the Town Plan Commission for review and approval. Approval shall not be provided until the Town Plan Commission determines that the provisions of this section and all other applicable codes and ordinances of the Town and Waukesha County have been complied with.
Penalties for a violation of this chapter shall be described in Chapter 1, § 1-10, of this Code.
[Added 10-19-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-06]
The Town of Vernon elects not to give the bond on Municipal Treasurer provided for by § 70.67 (1), Wis. Stats. Pursuant to § 70.67 (2) of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Town of Vernon shall be obligated to pay, in case the Treasurer thereof shall fail to do so, all taxes of any kind required by law to be paid by such Treasurer to the County Treasurer.