Counties in Wisconsin

Cooperative Extension represents a federal-state-county partnership involving land grant universities (such as the University of Wisconsin) that brings information and education directly to citizens on topics affecting their lives and livelihood. County UW-Extension offices cooperate with the Local Government Center in making our resources available to you, and also providing a connection to the many other programming areas within Cooperative Extension. We rely on the support and guidance of the Wisconsin Counties Association in developing many of these programs. In addition to WisLine programs, we offer statewide workshops in even-numbered years, after the spring election, to orient and update county officials.

The importance which our state Constitution assigns to local control means that many governmental functions are the responsibility of local units rather than state agencies. Social services, emergency services including fire and medical response, land use regulation, and criminal justice are essential functions at the local level - and lean heavily on local budgets. Areas of the state not incorporated as municipalities (i.e., towns) rely on the county to help meet many of these demands. Areas which are included in municipalities (i.e., cities and villages) must cooperate with the county with regard to some of these functions.

The Local Government Center web site contains the following information about county government.

Upcoming Programs: 2008 County Officials Workshops

Registration brochures will soon be available for the 2008 County Officials Workshops, held in May at multiple locations around the state.

County government finds itself under increasing public pressure to "get it right." With turnover on county boards averaging about 25% each election cycle, board members need opportunities to learn more about their roles and responsibilities.

Downloadable Texts

Description of Resource	Link and File-size Information
County-by-county listing of administrative types	Tenure of Wisconsin County Executives, Administrators, and Coordinators (PDF file, 35 kb). Provides type of county government, incumbent administrator, and his/her tenure, for every county in Wisconsin. Updated semi-annually; contact Alan Probst (alan.probst@uwex.edu) with changes.
County government structure	County Government Roles and Responsibilities (PowerPoint file, 516 kb, 39 slides). This presentation provides information on the basic structure of county government in Wisconsin and the roles of a county government officials.
Fact Sheet #8	Self-Organized Counties (PDF file, 23 kb)
Fact Sheet #19	County Government in Wisconsin (PDF file, 215 kb)
Videotapes Available On Loan How to Borrow	County Government: A Brief History #17613, 11 min. Videotape/Color (1992) County Government: In Business for People #16885, 14 min. Videotape/Color (1990) Options for Managing Your County #17652, 12 min. Videotape/Color (1992)

Pages On This Site

"Off-the-Shelf Resources for Local County Board Training"	An assortment of useful educational aids.
"County Administrative Resources"	Provides documents and information related to county administrative and personnel issues not necessarily associated with reduction or restructuring.
"County Board Size Reduction and Restructuring"	Issues about board size reduction, restructuring, and strategic planning, with case studies, reports from counties, and related links and downloads.

Other Web Sites

Wisconsin Counties Association
Wisconsin City/County Management Association
Wisconsin County Governments - web sites of Wisconsin counties, where one exists
UW-Cooperative Extension--County and Area Offices
Census Publications [County Business Patterns] (U.S. Census Bureau)

This page last modified: April 30, 2008.

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If you have questions or comments about this web site, find it difficult to access this page, or wish to request an accommodation because of a disability, please e-mail UW-Extension's Local Government Center at lgc@uwex.edu.