Chapter 79

CHAPTER 79

STATE REVENUE SHARING

SUBCHAPTER I

MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY SHARED REVENUE

79.005   Definitions.

79.006   New incorporations.

79.01   Accounts established.

79.015   Statement of estimated payments.

79.02   Shared revenue distributions.

79.035   County and municipal aid; before 2024.

79.036   County and municipal aid; beginning in 2024.

79.037   Supplemental county and municipal aid.

79.038   Innovation grants and innovation planning grants.

79.039   Certain reductions.

79.04   Public utility distribution.

79.05   Expenditure restraint incentive program.

79.08   Corrections.

79.09   Administration.

79.095   State aid; computers.

79.096   State aid; personal property.

79.0965   State aid; repeal of personal property tax.

79.097   State aid; video service provider fee.

SUBCHAPTER II

PROPERTY TAX CREDITS

79.10   Wisconsin state property tax relief.

79.11   Payment of tax credits.

79.14   School levy tax credit.

79.15   Improvements credit.

79.175   Excess tax credit corrections.

79.18   Insufficient tax credit corrections.

subch. I of ch. 79 SUBCHAPTER I

MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY SHARED REVENUE

79.005 79.005 Definitions. In this subchapter:

79.005(1b) (1b) “Alternative energy resource” means a renewable resource, as defined in s. 196.378 (1) (h); garbage, as defined in s. 289.01 (9); or nonvegetation-based industrial, commercial, or household waste.

79.005(1d) (1d) “Baseload electric generating facility” means an electric generating facility that has a capacity factor that is greater than 60 percent, as determined by the public service commission.

79.005(1f) (1f) “Capacity factor” means the anticipated actual annual output of an electric generating facility expressed as a percentage of the facility’s potential output. For purposes of this subchapter, the public service commission may review the capacity factor of an electric generating facility at any time.

79.005(1g) (1g) “Cogeneration production plant” means an electric generating facility that produces electricity and another form of thermal energy, including heat or steam, that is used for industrial, commercial, heating, or cooling purposes.

79.005(1h) (1h) “Decommissioned” means, with regard to a production plant, the earliest of the following:

79.005(1h)(a) (a) The production plant is no longer recovered through the utility’s or cooperative’s rates or, for a production plant owned by a qualified wholesale electric company, as defined in s. 76.28 (1) (gm), the production plant permanently ceases generating electricity.

79.005(1h)(b) (b) The production plant is transferred to a person who is not subject to the annual license fee imposed under s. 76.28 (2) or 76.29 (2).

79.005(1m) (1m) “Municipality” means any town, village or city in this state. If a municipality is located in more than one county, payments under this subchapter shall be computed using data for the municipality as a whole.

79.005(2) (2) “Population” means the number of persons residing in each municipality and county of the state as last determined by the department of administration under s. 16.96.

79.005(2m) (2m) “Power generation unit” means a complete set of electric generating equipment, as defined in s. 196.52 (9) (a) 1., that, collectively, is sufficient to generate electric power.

79.005(3) (3) “Production plant” does not include substations and general structures.

79.005(4) (4) “Repowered” means any of the following:

79.005(4)(a) (a) Replacing the boiler on an existing fossil fuel steam unit with a combustion turbine and heat recovery steam generator and reusing the steam turbine and heat rejection system.

79.005(4)(b) (b) Adding a heat recovery steam generator to a simple cycle combustion turbine.

79.005(4)(c) (c) Demolishing or abandoning an existing power generation unit and replacing it with a new power generation unit at the same site.

79.005(4)(d) (d) Replacing steam generating equipment at a combustion-based renewable facility, as defined in s. 196.378 (1) (g), that is located in this state, to increase efficiency or capacity, if the facility remains a combustion-based renewable facility, as defined in s. 196.378 (1) (g), after replacing the equipment.

79.005 History History: 1971 c. 125, 215; 1975 c. 39; 1981 c. 20 s. 1169; 1989 a. 336; 2003 a. 31; 2005 a. 141; 2023 a. 139.

79.006 79.006 New incorporations. The information needed for the determinations under this chapter shall be calculated as follows: for those years for which the necessary data does not exist, the data for the new municipality and the municipality from which it was formed shall be combined and the sum shall be apportioned to each municipality in proportion to its respective full value in the first year of assessment of the new municipality; if the municipality is formed before April 1, the department of administration shall certify the population of the newly created municipality, and the corrected population of the municipality from which it was formed, and those figures shall be used for distributions under this chapter in the year after the incorporation.

79.006 History History: 1981 c. 20; 1995 a. 216.

79.01 79.01 Accounts established. There is established an account in the general fund entitled the “Public Utility Distribution Account,” referred to in this chapter as the “public utility account.” There shall be appropriated to the public utility account the sums specified in s. 79.04.

79.01 Note NOTE: This section is shown as renumbered from s. 79.01 (2m) by the legislative reference bureau under s. 13.92 (1) (bm) 2.

79.01 History History: 1971 c. 125; 1973 c. 90; 1973 c. 243 s. 82; 1973 c. 283, 336; 1975 c. 39; 1977 c. 29, 203; 1979 c. 221; 1989 a. 336; 1993 a. 16, 437; 1999 a. 9; 2001 a. 16, 109; 2003 a. 31; 2009 a. 28; 2011 a. 32; 2023 a. 12; s. 13.92 (1) (bm) 2.

79.015 79.015 Statement of estimated payments. The department of revenue, on or before September 15 of each year, shall provide to each municipality and county a statement of estimated payments to be made in the next calendar year to the municipality or county under ss. 79.035, 79.036, 79.037, 79.038, 79.039, 79.04, and 79.05.

79.015 History History: 1981 c. 20, 61, 93; 1983 a. 27 ss. 1294, 2202 (45); 1985 a. 29; 1987 a. 27; 1989 a. 336; 1993 a. 16; 2001 a. 109; 2003 a. 33; 2011 a. 32; 2023 a. 12.

79.02 79.02 Shared revenue distributions.

79.02(1) (1) Except as provided in sub. (2) (b), the department of administration, upon certification by the department of revenue, shall distribute shared revenue payments to each municipality and county on the 4th Monday in July and the 3rd Monday in November.

79.02(2) (2) 

79.02(2)(a) (a) In this subsection, “estimated payments” means the amounts in the statement provided to the county or municipality under s. 79.015.

79.02(2)(b) (b) Subject to ss. 59.605 (4) and 70.995 (14) (b), payments in July shall equal 15 percent of the municipality’s or county’s estimated payments under ss. 79.035, 79.036, 79.037, 79.038, 79.039, and 79.04 and 100 percent of the municipality’s estimated payments under s. 79.05. Upon certification by the department of revenue, the estimated payment under s. 79.05 may be distributed before the 4th Monday in July.

79.02(3) (3) Subject to s. 59.605 (4), payments to each municipality and county in November shall equal that municipality’s or county’s entitlement under ss. 79.035, 79.036, 79.037, 79.038, 79.039, 79.04, and 79.05 for the current year, minus the amount distributed to the municipality or county under sub. (2) (b).

79.02 History History: 1983 a. 27; 1985 a. 29 ss. 1505p, 1505t, 3202 (46); 1985 a. 120; 1987 a. 27; 1989 a. 336; 1991 a. 307; 1993 a. 16; 1999 a. 150 s. 672; 2001 a. 109; 2003 a. 33, 170, 320; 2005 a. 254; 2009 a. 28; 2011 a. 32; 2021 a. 1; 2023 a. 12.