59.255 Comptroller. (1) ELIGIBILITY. (a) No person may hold the office of comptroller unless he or she is either a certified public accountant, licensed or certified under ch. 442, or has a master’s degree or a doctorate degree in accounting or finance from a regionally accredited, nonprofit, post-secondary educational institution. (b) No person holding the office of sheriff, undersheriff, circuit judge, district attorney, clerk of the circuit court, clerk, or member of the board shall be eligible to hold the office of comptroller or deputy comptroller. (c) This section applies only to a county with a population of 750,000 or more. (2) DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. (a) The comptroller is the chief financial officer of the county, and the administrator of the county’s financial affairs. The comptroller shall oversee all of the county’s debt. (b) The comptroller shall appoint one deputy to aid the comptroller, under the comptroller’s direction, in the discharge of the duties of the office of comptroller. The appointment shall be in writing and shall be filed and recorded in the comptroller’s office. Such deputy, in the absence of the comptroller from the comptroller’s office or in case of a vacancy in said office or any disability of the comptroller to perform the duties of the office of comptroller, unless another is appointed therefor as provided in par. (c), shall perform all of the duties of the office of comptroller until such vacancy is filled or such disability is removed. The person so appointed shall take and file the official oath. The person shall file his or her appointment with the clerk. The board may, at its annual meeting or at any special meeting, provide a salary for the deputy. (c) If any comptroller is incapable of discharging the duties of the office of comptroller, the county executive shall appoint a person, subject to confirmation by the board, comptroller who shall serve until such disability is removed. A person so appointed or appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of comptroller, upon giving an official bond with like sureties as are required of such comptroller, shall perform all the duties of such office, and thereupon the powers and duties of any deputy performing the duties of the last comptroller shall cease. (d) Each month, at the board’s first meeting, the comptroller shall report to the board and the county executive, in writing, the condition of the county’s outstanding contracts and of each of the county’s funds and the claims payable from the funds. The comptroller shall also file with the county executive and the board each year on or before October 1 a certified and detailed statement of the receipts and disbursements on account of each fund of the county during the preceding fiscal year, specifying the source of each receipt and the object of each disbursement, and also an estimate of the receipts and disbursements for the current fiscal year. (e) The comptroller shall countersign all contracts with the county if he or she determines that the county has, or will have, the necessary funds to pay the liability that the county may incur under the contract. No contract is valid until so countersigned. (f) At least monthly the comptroller shall examine the treasurer’s accounts as reported and as kept, and shall report to the county executive and board as to their correctness and as to any violation by the treasurer of the treasurer’s duty in the manner of keeping accounts or disbursing moneys. (g) Whenever requested to do so by the county executive or board, the comptroller shall provide an independent fiscal analysis of any matter affecting the county, and shall provide the county executive and board with a fiscal note for all proposed legislation. (h) Annually, the comptroller shall prepare a written 5-year financial condition forecast for the county, which shall be distributed to the county executive and the board. (i) The comptroller shall perform all audit functions related to county government. The comptroller shall also have the duties and all the powers and responsibilities conferred upon the clerk as auditor under s. 59.47 (1), and shall perform any additional duties and shall have any additional powers as are imposed and conferred upon him or her from time to time by resolution adopted by the board. Audit functions under this paragraph shall be performed in accordance with governmental auditing standards issued by the comptroller general of the United States and generally accepted auditing standards. (j) The comptroller shall administer and oversee all shared services contracts. (k) The comptroller may in writing, filed in the office of the clerk, appoint a deputy who shall act under the comptroller’s direction and in the comptroller’s absence or disability, or in case of a vacancy shall perform the comptroller’s duties. The deputy shall receive such compensation as the board provides. The acts of a deputy shall be covered by official bond as the board directs. History: 2011 a. 62; 2013 a. 165 s. 115; 2017 a. 150.
59.26
Sheriff; undersheriff. (1) APPOINTMENT AND REMOVAL. (a) No later than 10 days after taking office and no later than 10 days after the occurrence of a vacancy, the sheriff shall appoint an undersheriff. The undersheriff shall be a resident of the county and a law enforcement officer or jail officer certified under s. 165.86. (b) An undersheriff may be removed at the pleasure of the sheriff. (c) The appointment or removal of an undersheriff shall be in writing and shall be filed and recorded with the county clerk. (d) 1. In counties in which the sheriff’s office is under civil service, the sheriff and county shall place on leave of absence a deputy sheriff who is appointed by the sheriff to the position of undersheriff, upon the deputy’s acceptance of the appointment. A deputy sheriff in a county under civil service who is placed on leave of absence under this subdivision shall immediately be returned to the position of deputy sheriff without loss of any rights under the civil service law upon completion of the appointment unless the deputy sheriff is otherwise disciplined under s. 59.265. 2. a. Except as provided in subd. 2. b., in counties in which the sheriff’s office is not under civil service, a deputy sheriff who is appointed undersheriff shall upon completion of the appointive position be returned to the position of deputy sheriff. Upon the return to the position of deputy sheriff, the person shall be placed at a rank determined by the sheriff and paid the same salary and provided the same tenure and seniority the person would have received had the person not taken the undersheriff appointment. b. A sheriff may grant a deputy sheriff who is appointed undersheriff a leave of absence from the position of deputy sheriff. Upon completion of the appointive position, a person granted a leave of absence under this subdivision 2. b. shall be returned to the person’s former position without loss of any rights under the civil service law. (2) OFFICE AND DUTIES. (a) The undersheriff shall also be known as the chief deputy sheriff and shall have the same powers and duties as a deputy sheriff. (b) 1. Upon a vacancy in the office of sheriff, the undersheriff shall act as sheriff until the vacancy is filled. 2. Upon incapacity of the sheriff, the undersheriff shall act as sheriff until the sheriff returns and is no longer incapacitated or the office of sheriff becomes vacant. Incapacity under this subdivision shall be determined either by the sheriff or by the chief judge of the judicial administrative district in which the county is located. A petition to request the chief judge to declare incapacity shall be initiated by two-thirds vote of all supervisors entitled to seats on the county board and the chief judge shall hold any hearing and accept any evidence the chief judge deems appropriate. Any incapacity declared by the chief judge may be lifted upon application of the county board or sheriff following presentation of evidence the chief judge deems appropriate. 3. If the office of sheriff becomes vacant and there is no undersheriff, the county clerk shall submit proof of the vacancy to the presiding judge of the county’s circuit court. The presiding judge shall determine if the office is vacant based on the submission and, if the office is determined to be vacant, shall appoint a resident of the county to act as sheriff until the vacancy is filled. The appointment shall be in writing and shall be filed and recorded in the office of the clerk. Upon receipt of the filing, the clerk shall notify the appointed person of the appointment. No later than 10 days after receiving notification of the appointment, the appointee shall execute and file an official bond in the same amount and approved in the same manner provided for the sheriff. If the required bond is not executed and filed, the appointing judge shall appoint another person in the manner provided under this subdivision. (c) If, on January 4, 2027, the chief deputy sheriff is a defined position under an ordinance or a collective bargaining agreement, a deputy sheriff then serving as chief deputy sheriff shall continue at the same salary and shall have the same tenure and seniority as to other deputy sheriffs that the person would have had if the chief deputy sheriff position had continued to be a civil service position or subject to the protections of a collective bargaining agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a sheriff in a county described in this paragraph is not required to appoint the chief deputy sheriff to the appointive position of undersheriff. (3) LIMITATION ON BOARD AUTHORITY. The board may not eliminate the office of undersheriff and may not assign the appointment of undersheriff to an authority other than the sheriff. NOTE: This section is shown as repealed and recreated eff. 1-4-27 by Wis. Act 196. Prior to 1-4-27 it reads: