​​​​​​July 24, 2025

To: Certified Assessors, Assessor List, Municipal Clerks and Treasurers, County Clerks and Treasurers
Real Property Listers, Registers of Deeds, Heads of Government, and Tribes

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR), State and Local Finance Division, would like to inform you of local government bills recently signed into state law. Below, we are providing each act, the area it relates to, the state laws impacted with a summary of the change, the effective date, and the applicable contact information.

Local Government Finance

• Local Grant Writing and Compliance Assistance Grants
• Page 136–Section 92
• Sec. 20.835 (1) (ze), Wis. Stats.
• Transfers funds from the local government fund to a new appropriation to make grants available to cities, villages, towns, and counties for grant writing and compliance assistance
• ​Effective date – July 4, 2025
• Premier Resort Area Tax
• Page 153–Sections 209-211
• Sec. 66.1113 (2), Wis. Stats.
• Allows a county or municipality with a population between 4,000 and 11,000 to become a premier resort area and impose the premier resort area tax
• Available even if less than 40% of the county or municipality equalized assessed value is used by tourism-related retailers
• Requires approval by a majority of the electors voting on the resolution at a referendum prior to June 1, 2025
• Effective date (page 194–Section 9430) – first day of the first calendar quarter beginning at least 120 days after publication or January 1, 2026
• Levy Limits
• Page 153–Section 207
• Sec. 66.0602 (2m) (c), Wis. Stats.
• A county or municipality that acts under sec. 66.1113 (2) (k) to impose a premier resort area tax (under secs. 66.1113 (2) and 77.994) must reduce its current year levy by an amount equal to 50% of the premier resort area tax proceeds in the previous year, less any prior year levy limit reductions made
• Effective date – December 2027 tax levies
• ​​ Revenue Limits
• Page 142–Section 140; Page 173–Section 310
• Secs. 38.16 (3) (a) 2w. and sec. 121.90 (2) (am) 2., Wis. Stats.
• Amends the definition of "revenue" for technical colleges and school districts to include the amounts received under sec. 79.0965, Wis. Stats., which is Act 12 personal property aid
• Effective date – first applies to revenue limit calculations for the 2025-26 school year
• Innovation Grants
• Pages 165-166–Sections 262-269
• Sec. 79.038 (1), Wis. Stats.
• Extends the grant program by two years – grant payment period ends June 30, 2030
• Removes the requirement that an innovation plan achieve a projected cost savings of at least 10%. Also, removes the requirement for a grant recipient to certify their actual cost savings to DOR.
• Reduces the minimum amount of time an agreement or contract transfers a service to at least three years (previously was six years)
• Creates a requirement that the total costs for all counties, municipalities, or tribes (party to the agreement) to perform the transferred service cannot exceed 115% of the total cost to provide the service in the year prior to the transfer
• If, for a year during the grant award period, the above requirement is not met, DOR must inform DOA of each county, municipality, or tribe that is party to the contract or agreement, and DOA may not make a grant payment in the following year​
• Updates the grant payment calculation to be the same for all innovation plans regardless of whether the service is transferred to a county, municipality, tribe, private entity or non-profit entity
• Annul grant payment equals 25% of the total transferor cost of the county, municipality, or tribe performing the service in the year prior to the transfer
• ​Number of grant payments is based on the date of the first grant payment and the duration of the service transfer under the innovation plan
• Ex: If an innovation plan with a transfer period of five years is awarded a grant. The first grant payment may be distributed by June 30, 2026 and the four following fiscal years totaling five annual grant payments.
• Effective date – July 4, 2025
• Note: The Local Government Services B​ureau (LGS) is working to update DOR's online materials and determine the new launch date of the revised Innovation Grant application​
• Questions – contact ​lgs@wisconsin.gov

Property Assessment

• Radio, Cellular and Telecommunication Towers Exemption
• Page 153–Section 212; Page 165–Section 259
• Secs. 70.11 (48) and 76.81 (1), Wis. Stats.
• Exempts radio, cellular, and telecommunication towers when used:
• Exclusively to support equipment that provides telecommunications services, defined in sec. 76.80 (3), Wis. Stats.
• As digital broadcasting equipment for radio, television, or video service, defined in sec. 66.0420 (2) (y), Wis. Stats.
• Effective dates (page 193–Section 9337)
• Local exemption under sec. 70.11 (48), Wis. Stats. – first applies January 1, 2026
• State telecommunications exemption under sec. 76.81 (1), Wis. Stats. – first applies January 1, 2027
• Telecommunication questions – contact:
• Local assessment – bapdor@wisconsin.gov
• State assessment – mfgtelco@wisconsin.gov

Tax Incremental Finance

• City of Middleton Exception – Act 6
• Section 1 – creates sec. 66.1105 (6) (g) 7., Wis. Stats., and does not allow the city of Middleton to use the one-year housing extension for Tax Incremental District (TID) Number 6
• Section 2 – creates sec. 66.1105 (17) (h), Wis. Stats., and provides an exception to the 12% value limit for the city of Middleton's TID Number 6 if the TID is created on or before June 1, 2025
• Effective date – May 18, 2025
• City of Port Washington and city of Beaver Dam Exception – Act 16
• Creates sec. 66.1105 (17) (i), Wis. Stats., and a data center district TID exception
• Data center is defined as a qualified data center certified under sec. 238.40 (2), Wis. Stats.
• Data center district is defined as a TID that contains within in boundaries a data center
• Both of these apply if all project costs of a data center TID are related to a data center within the TID:
• 12% limit does not apply to the creation of the data center TID or the project plan amendment for the data center TID
• Data center TID increments are excluded from the 12% value limit calculation when the city creates a TID or amends the project plan of a TID 
• Data center TIDs may not:
• Amend project plans to include project costs not related to a data center located within the TID
• Allocate positive tax increments
• Data center TID exception applies to:
• TID Number 5 in the city of Port Washington if the TID is created before January 1, 2028
• TID Number 10 in the city of Beaver Dam
• Effective date – July 10, 2025
• Questions – contact ​tif@wisconsin.gov

Privacy Law Update

• Election Officials and Election Registration Officials​
  
• Section 1m – amended sec. 19.36 (14), Wis. Stats. to require election officials and election registration officials to submit a written request to the authority for keeping records containing personally identifiable information confidential
• Effective date – July 1, 2025
• Additional information – see the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Public Records Compliance Guide for open records information, exceptions, and the associated state laws
• Questions – contact opengov@widoj.gov​