The public sidewalk in front of the house is the owner’s to clear in most of Waukesha County, on a clock that changes at the village line. Here is each municipality’s published rule, its section, and what it charges when the owner does not.
The rules below are the municipalities’ own. Anyone who wants the sidewalk handled before the clock runs out is introduced to an independent local operator, who does the work under their own name and insurance.
“Not read” and “not found” mean exactly that. Where a municipality’s code host would not serve the section, the row says so instead of borrowing a number from a neighboring village.
| Municipality | Deadline | Section | If the owner does not clear |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Waukesha | Not published here — the city’s two pages disagree | Sec. 36-9 (the city page cites “Ordinance 6.12”) | City clears and bills $2.00 per lineal foot, $25 per curb ramp, $25 per bus pad, $100 per fire hydrant; $25 administrative fee on a second violation in a season, $50 on a third |
| City of Brookfield | No owner duty | § 12.08.050, repealed by Ord. 2169-09 | — |
| Town of Brookfield | Owners “responsible” per the town page; no clock published | Not located | Not published |
| Village of Elm Grove | 24 hours “after the termination of any snowfall,” “the entire width of the sidewalk” | § 243-13 | Village removes and charges the cost “against the abutting property each time”; unpaid, “a tax upon the premises” (§ 243-16) |
| Village of Menomonee Falls | 24 hours “after cessation of each snowfall event,” to the width of the walk; ice that “cannot be immediately removed” kept “sprinkled with salt or sand” | § 90-67(a) | Village clears; cost “on the next tax roll as a special charge” under § 66.0627 (§ 90-67(b)) |
| Village of Pewaukee | 24 hours “after snowfall or occurrence causing formation of snow and ice” | § 78.118(a) | Special charge, “not payable in installments”; a lien if unpaid 60 days after the bill (§ 78.118(c)) |
| City of Pewaukee | A different municipality; its code was not reachable | Not read | Not read |
| City of Delafield | 24 hours “after each snowfall,” to the width, treated with “salt, sand or other appropriate ice melting products” | § 42-8(a) | City removal “billed directly to the person listed as the owner”; tax roll after 30 days (§ 42-8(c)) |
| City of Oconomowoc | 24 hours after each snowfall, sidewalks “and adjacent handicap ramps” | Not read | Rate not read |
| City of Muskego | City clears; it “will ‘not’ require property owners” to | — | — (about 38 miles of walk and trail, after the roads, on a three-week cycle) |
| Village of Hartland | Not found | Not found | Not found |
| Village of Sussex | “Within a 24-hour period” | Not read | Not read |
| Village of Mukwonago | “Within 24 hours of the final snowfall” | Not read | Not read |
| Village of Wales | 24 hours “after any snowfall has ceased” | Not recorded | Village removal at cost plus 15% administration |
| Village of Merton | “Within six daylight hours after cessation of the snowfall” | § 198-5A | Removal “without notice”; on the assessment roll after 10 days unpaid (§ 198-5B) |
| Town of Oconomowoc | “Promptly, each day” | § 260-25 | Not stated |
| City of New Berlin | Unresolved | Not read | Not read |
| Village of Chenequa | No sidewalks | — | — |
The City of Waukesha’s sidewalk page says 24 hours and its DPW Winter 2025 newsletter says 12; the codified section, Sec. 36-9, could not be read. Until it is, no clock is printed here for that city.
Wis. Stat. § 66.0907(5) reads: “The board of public works shall keep the sidewalks of the city clear of snow and ice in all cases where the owners or occupants of abutting lots fail to do so.” That sentence is the reason a village crew can show up, do the work and send the bill. The collection mechanism is the special charge under § 66.0627, which Menomonee Falls names in § 90-67(b) and which the Village of Pewaukee applies in § 78.118(c) with its 60-day lien. Elm Grove reaches the same result through § 243-16, where the unpaid charge becomes “a tax upon the premises.” Merton’s § 198-5B is the sharpest version: removal “without notice,” and onto the assessment roll after ten days.
The practical reading for a homeowner is that the municipality does not have to warn you, does not have to wait, and does not have to charge what a contractor would. Waukesha’s $2.00 a lineal foot is published; Wales adds 15 percent administration to cost; the rest either do not publish a rate or could not be read. In every case the charge attaches to the property.
A corner lot has sidewalk on two sides and a curb ramp at the corner, and the ordinances that mention the ramp treat it as part of the walk. Oconomowoc’s page says “Sidewalks and adjacent handicap ramps must be cleared of snow and ice within 24 hours after each snowfall.” The City of Waukesha bills the ramp as its own line at $25, the bus pad at $25, and the hydrant at $100, which is the clearest statement in the county that those three are counted separately from the run of sidewalk. Elm Grove’s § 243-15 bars depositing snow “onto any fire hydrant, mailbox … paved right-of-way, public sidewalk, or other public place,” so a corner owner who clears one frontage by throwing it onto the other has not cleared anything. Menomonee Falls says residents are “encouraged” to clear hydrants; Sussex asks that mailbox posts sit “at least 5 feet away from fire hydrants.”
For anyone contracting the work, this is the reason to state the frontage in feet, on both sides, and to name the ramp and any hydrant. A quote for “the sidewalk” on a corner lot in Waukesha is a quote for half the exposure.
Brookfield’s code, current through May 2026, lists § 12.08.050 “Snow and ice removal” as “Repealed by Ord. 2169-09.” There is no codified owner sidewalk duty in the city. Whether and when the city clears sidewalks itself could not be verified, and this page makes no claim about it. Brookfield does keep § 12.08.010, which bars depositing any material on a street, alley or pedestrian way and names the contractor as well as the owner; that is covered on the street page.
Muskego is the other way around by choice. The city’s snow page says it “will ‘not’ require property owners to clear snow and ice from the sidewalks that abut their property,” and that the city clears roughly 38 miles of sidewalk and trail after the roads are done, on a three-week cycle. Three weeks is a long time to wait for a walk to school, and a Muskego owner who wants it done sooner is arranging it privately, not meeting an ordinance.
Ice on a walk the owner cleared and the municipal plow re-buried is, in Wisconsin case law, a natural accumulation for which the municipality is not liable. The liability page covers that.
Say which municipality the house is in and how many feet of frontage there are, including the second side on a corner.
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