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The town of Bangor will stop contracting work on private property after some residents raised questions of legality.

The town has had a long-standing practice of allowing its residents to pay for private use of town equipment, such as hauling rocks with a dump truck or grading with a road grader. However, at Monday’s meeting, the town board voted 2-1 to stop the doing work on private property — including plowing snow for the time being.

“We’re going to have to quit, and I feel bad about it,” said board Chair Kenneth Manke.

A few residents brought the matter before the board, stating state law does not allow municipalities to contract to do private work. Edmund “Butch” Knudtson said the town could face lawsuits from businesses that have services the town was offering; he said municipalities aren’t supposed to be competing with other businesses.

“Municipalities are not supposed to be doing private work because there are contractors and construction people out there,” said Knudtson, who served as a board supervisor 2001-05. “The town could get sued by a private contractor.”

In addition, Knudtson said the practice wasn’t fair to taxpayers.

“They’re wearing this equipment out, and there are people out there paying for this,” he said.

Manke said offering work on private property had been somewhat of a tradition in the township. He said town residents technically owned the equipment, so they should have a right to use it if they needed it.

“We’re only doing it as a favor,” Manke said. “These buildings that are on town land and the equipment that’s in them belong to the residents. Over the years ... the board thought that if there was any time they could help the constituents (of Bangor), they did.

“Yes, I know it’s illegal, and yes, I know we need to quit. I’d like to help out our constituents, but I guess we got to be hard asses.”

This isn’t the first time the board has discussed the matter. In 2004, the board reviewed the town’s practice and actually voted to stop offering work on private property. However, in 2005, following the spring elections, the board voted to again offer the service.

According to the Wisconsin Towns Association, state statutes do not authorize municipalities to offer work on private property except for removing dead animals, soil conservation and snow removal.

The vote on Monday put a moratorium on the town offering any kind of work on private property, including snow plowing, which some residents have relied upon. Manke said the board will look into snowplowing in more detail in the future.

Manke and town Supervisor Robert Manke voted in favor of stopping work on private property. Supervisor Larry Wuensch voted against the motion.

Town patrolman Doug Jerome, who is the main operator of town equipment, said the town would do work on private property about five or six times a year. Residents would pay $100 an hour for the grader to be used, and the town would charge $38 per 6-yard-load of gravel hauled.

Jerome said the town didn’t make much profit from the work.

“It wasn’t like we were running a business,” said Jerome, who has worked for the town for over 31 years. “It was a service for the people. We were fixing our own troubles.”