Lisbon Incorporation Efforts Fall Short

The Town of Lisbon has been officially denied its bid to try and incorporate as a village.

The Wisconsin Department of Administration Incorporation Review Board officially published its determination on the agency’s website, saying the town failed to meet three of the five requirements necessary to let the process move forward.

According to the ruling, Lisbon only met the ability to raise sufficient tax revenue and level of services provided requirements needed in order to incorporate as a village. The municipality failed to meet the homogeny and compactness of the town borders requirement; the territory beyond the core population area requirement; and failed to show that incorporation wouldn’t have a negative impact on the metropolitan area.

The board also stated Lisbon and Sussex are intertwined socially, physically and economically to such an extent it’s difficult to consider them as separate.

Sussex Village Administrator Jeremy Smith said the state ruling raised some of the same points that Sussex did in opposing incorporation.

“The same concerns the village had about them incorporating and what the statutes are were brought (up)... by the Incorporation Review Board,” Smith said. “Now what we’re looking forward to are the discussions with the Town of Lisbon and where do we go from here.”

Lisbon Town Chairman Matt Gehrke said he’s not happy about the state's decision and the Town Board will work with the citizens group Lisbon-Inc.org, to determine the next steps and whether they will appeal the decision. The citizens group made the incorporation request with the state.

“We clearly feel that we met the criteria more that some of these other communities, mainly Summit and Richfield,” Gehrke said. “But a big part of why we were denied is because we had an intervener and they were successful in their intervention.”

by opposing the incorporation effort, and Gehrke said they will continue to discuss the issue and reach an agreement through the arbitration and mediation process.

Smith said the decision on how to move forward lies with the town and whether town officials want to continue looking back at past disagreements between the two communities or move forward.

“This is a justification of what we’ve been saying all along,” Smith said. “Now it comes down to how do we look forward instead of looking back into the past.”