By: Derek Hawkins//February 28, 2017//
WI Court of Appeals – District I
Case Name: Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. v. City of Milwaukee
Case No.: 2015AP1876
Officials: Brennan, P.J., Kessler and Brash, JJ.
Focus: Tax Assessment
This case presents a narrow issue: whether the City of Milwaukee (the City) properly assessed the billboard permits of Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. (“Clear Channel”) as real property for the years 2009- 2013. Clear Channel brought this excessive assessment action under WIS. STAT. § 74.37 (2011-12) , raising statutory and constitutional challenges to the City’s tax assessments on approximately 850 billboard permits for each year from 2009 through 2011; later the complaint was amended to include the years 2012 and 2013. Clear Channel sought a declaratory judgment that the assessments were invalid and a refund of the taxes paid on the grounds that it was improper to assess the billboard permits as real property.
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