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2015 Op. Wis. Att'y Gen. 1 (2015)

handle is hein.sag/sagwi0107 and id is 1 raw text is: STATE OF WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE J.B. VAN HOLLEN 17 W. Main Street Attorney General P.O. Box 7857 Madison, WI 53707-7857 Kevin M. St. John www.doj.state.wi.us Deputy Attorney General January 2, 2015 OAG-01-15 Jacob C. Brunette Clark County Corporation Counsel 517 Court Street, Room 206 Neillsville, WI 54456 Dear Mr. Brunette: ¶ 1. You ask for an opinion about whether a town can assess a fire protection special charge in the absence of an actual fire call, and whether it can assess a special charge against a county, a tax-exempt entity. ¶ 2. I conclude that, pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 60.55(2)(b), a town may assess a. fire. protection special charge for making fire protection services generally available, and not based on the incidence of fire calls at a property. I further conclude that the special charge is a fee, not a tax. Its primary purpose is to recover costs for fire protection services, supervision or regulation, not to obtain general revenue for the government. Therefore, the special charge may be assessed against the county. I decline to answer your third question concerning the purpose for which the town may use the special charge funds because you have provided no facts to indicate that the town is using these funds for an improper purpose. ¶ 3. You explain that a town in Clark County has adopted an ordinance that charges all real property within the town a fire protection special charge using a fee schedule based on the size and type of property (called a domestic user equivalent). The ordinance was adopted pursuant to Wis. Stat. §§ 60.55, 66.0301, and 66.0627 to provide funding for fire protection within the town. The annual charge varies depending on the town's annual obligation to the fire commission. The ordinance also indicates that delinquent special charges will became a lien on the real property. The fire commission charges a fire call fee in addition to the fire protection special charge. You note that Clark County has received bills for fire protection pursuant to the ordinance.