Town of Brookfield Businesses Pledge Not to Annex To Cities

At least 80 Town of Brookfield businesses and institutions have signed pledges to not annex into neighboring cities for the next 20 years, in exchange for not having to pay special assessments for a new town water tower.

Those 80 property owners had been charged special assessments totaling $356,949, or about 44 percent of the total assessments billed for the water tower project.

Another 43 property owners have expressed interest in signing the non-annexation agreement but have not yet done so, Town Clerk Jane Carlson said. Seven owners have paid their assessments, declining to sign the pledges.

The rest of the total 191 properties affected have not yet acted on their bills, which if not paid by late fall will be placed on December property tax bills.

The non-annexation pledges and assessment waivers — which Mayor Steve Ponto on Wednesday panned as a "bribe" — mean the town will have to shift more of the cost of the water tower project to residential property owners.

"Now the water utility will pay most of it," Town Administrator Rick Czopp said. He said he believed the utility could fund it without raising water rates. 

The elevated 300,000-gallon tower is being built on leased land off Janacek Road south of Blue Mound Road to improve fire protection for the town's commercial corridor. The town currently has one elevated tower located on Barker Road south of I-94.

The special assessments may need to be tweaked after the project cost came in lower than estimated. The assessments were calculated based on engineers' estimates that the tower and connecting mains would cost about $1.24 million.

The low bid came in at $939,900, by Maguire Iron of Sioux Falls, SD, which the Town Sanitary District board approved Tuesday night.

Town officials by charging 66 percent of the cost to town businesses and institutions through special assessments. The remaining 34 percent was to be paid by the water utility, through town water rates charged to residential and non-residential properties.

Special assessments totaling $820,565 were mailed last spring to 191 non-residential property owners, including retail, office and nonprofit institutions such as churches and schools.

But the town : exemption from payment if they signed a pledge to not annex into a neighboring municipality for 20 years.

As of Tuesday, the seven property owners that declined to sign had paid their assessments totaling $27,921.

Wal-Mart paid its $17,958 assessment for the Sam's Club at 600 N. Springdale Road. Also paying were the owners of Kerns Carpets, Boston Market, F&F Tire Service, Burger King and two office buildings.

Among those signing pledges to not annex out of the town were Menards and the Marcus Corp. on whose lands a mixed retail and office department store is proposed. They signed the waivers more than a year ago, however.

Elmbrook Church, which had the largest assessment at $62,654 due to its large parcel size, also signed the pledge and received the waiver. Assessments were calculated on parcel size.

Also among the 80 signing the pledges were the owners of the Galleria West shopping center, Oscars Frozen Custard, Taco Bell, Mid-America Bank, Acura of Brookfield, Hockey Haven West, Hall Imports, Fun World, The Melting Pot, Badger Lighting and Signs, Lexus of Brookfield, Drexel Co., Laacke & Joys, Full Service Carh Wash, Open Pantry, George Panos LLC, Brookfield North Shore Imports, Golf Galaxy, Salto Gymnasium, Bancroft Corp., Bevco Precision Manufacturing, Mavroff Landscape Contractors, Cooper Resource Center, Waterstone Bank, La Quinta Inns, Jose's of Brookfield, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Brookfield Commerce Center.

Town officials said the pledges were needed to help protect town borders and keep tax base from shrinking.

Czopp said he was pleased with the level of support residents and businesses have shown for preserving the town's low tax rate and high-quality services.

Town resident Jay Walt is preparing a petition seeking to incorporate the town as a village, which among other things, would prevent further annexation of town land.

The city has noted the town no longer even has the minimum acreage of land needed to become a village. The town is trying to gain that minimum by asking the state to allow it to annex 288 acres from the adjacent Town of Waukesha.

Ponto said Wednesday he was disappointed the town businesses had signed the agreements, saying he wished someone would legally challenge them.

As for the ones who paid their bills and chose not to sign, Ponto said: "I really admire that. That shows a real determination to preserve your rights."

Ponto said he believed the state should not allow the town to become a village, saying it was too small to provide its own adequate services without relying on neighboring municipalities for services, such as the city's library, parks and recycling center.

He cited the Village of Butler, saying Brookfield city police officers often have to back up Butler which due to its small size has only one officer on duty overnight.

"Good governent is having a workable sized government where you can achieve economies of scale," Ponto said. "I think that the idea of these small incorporations is a bad thing for the metropolitan area as a whole."

When the city hired a consultant to study whether the city and town should be consolidated, the report did not recommend merging because the tax rate for town residents would rise without a major increase in services.