The number of municipalities in Wisconsin has decreased by one.
The Village of Maine in Marathon County has officially absorbed the Village of Brokaw. Maine Administrator Keith Rusch says most resident’s won’t really notice a change.
“Basically they have all the rights and responsibilities of any other Maine resident. The only difference being now their representative government now resides in the Village of Maine hall and not in the village of Brokaw hall.”
Brokaw was bankrupted in 2012 after Wausau Paper closed a paper mill in the village, putting most of its residents out of a job. There had been attempts to save Brokaw, including funding packages from the state, but those eventually failed.
Rusch says he’s not aware of any other instance where one municipality has completely absorbed another. Three different municipalities worked out how to handle that transition, and it was finalised on Monday.
“Whatever Brokaw has in existence, contracts, buildings, land, debts. All of those things the Village of Main basically inherits upon attachment,” says Rusch.
WSAU
