Court Opinion

ID: 9690421
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 19:12:01.101022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:56.932083
License: Public Domain

DAVID T. PROSSER, J.
¶ 49. (dissenting). This case exposes a vexing problem in the financing of local governments.
*528¶ 50. Counties, like school districts and other municipal governments, obtain most of their operating revenue from the property tax. To assure the funding of public services, the cooperation of taxpayers is essential. When a taxpayer makes timely payments to a taxation district, the treasurer of that district distributes a proportionate share of the proceeds to each eligible taxing jurisdiction on a regular schedule. This is called settlement. See Wis. Stat. §§ 74.23, 74.24, 74.27, 74.30.
¶ 51. When a taxpayer fails to make timely payments, the problem eventually falls to the county. By August 20 of each year, the county treasurer is required to settle in full with other taxing jurisdictions for all real property taxes and special taxes. In essence, the county "buys out" the delinquent taxes by advancing to all other taxing jurisdictions their share of unpaid property taxes. See Rick Olin, Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Informational Paper No. 14, Property Tax Administration, 11 (Jan. 2001); Wis. Stat. § 74.29. If the county treasurer does not settle with the other taxing jurisdictions by August 20, the county is subject to interest charges and penalties. Wis. Stat. § 74.31. Thus, in a very real sense, when a taxpayer fails to pay property taxes, the county is left holding the bag.
¶ 52. Of course, the counties have remedies. In time, a county may take ownership of the taxpayer's property by issuing a tax deed pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 75.14(1). The county may also file a civil action under Wis. Stat. § 74.53 against persons who own the property to recover delinquent taxes.
¶ 53. The question arises whether these remedies are adequate to protect the public interest, particularly in situations where the taxpayer's property is so unde*529sirable that the taxpayer wants to unload it to the county, where it may become a major liability.
¶ 54. In this case, the Jackson County Sanitary Landfill ceased paying property taxes in 1998. In 2000 it stopped accepting waste and closed down. In 2002 the county took the property in an effort to recoup the money it had already paid out in settlement as well as its own share of delinquent taxes.
¶ 55. One might argue that the county should have known better than to take ownership of this albatross. But one can also argue that the county was euchred into doing so by a clever but conniving landfill owner.
¶ 56. The majority is not much troubled by the county's dilemma, or by the blueprint it is creating for future tax cheats. I am very troubled and would exercise this court's equitable power to cancel the tax deed to undo this scam. In any event, I urge the legislature to address the problem.