Mission Statement
The Municipal Court oversees non-criminal traffic and ordinance violations. The mission of the court is to provide access to justice to the people of the city of Sheboygan and the village of Kohler in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Function of the Municipal Court
The Municipal Court provides a neutral forum for hearing City Ordinance cases, where the penalty includes a forfeiture. The court handles thousands of cases per year. These are not criminal charges and defendants are not entitled to a free lawyer. Common cases include all traffic, first offense drunk/impaired driving, disorderly conduct, trespass, truancy, underage alcohol, building code, health code, and animal control violations. The judge may order a driver’s license suspension in addition to a forfeiture, in some cases. Examples include underage alcohol violations, habitual truancy, operating while suspended along with any traffic violation where the judge finds it appropriate for public safety reasons to do so. Driver’s license revocations are required in drunk/impaired driving cases.
The Court hears both adult and juvenile cases. Juvenile cases are confidential, except traffic violations. Juveniles can be tried with the same violations as adults, but can also be charged with truancy, curfew, tobacco, and alcohol violations. At pretrials, defendants meet with the assigned City or Village Attorney and negotiate. Any agreements are submitted in writing and subject to the judge’s approval. If no agreement is reached, a trial is scheduled. All trials are without a jury, except when a proper request is made on drunk/impaired driving cases. The rules of evidence apply to all trials. The City has the burden of proving the violation(s) by evidence that is clear, is satisfactory, and convinces the judge to a reasonable certainty. The judge’s rulings on trials can be appealed to circuit court, upon proper filing of papers and fees. The judge can issue arrest warrants for nonpayment of forfeitures or failure to appear in court. The judge can also issue inspection warrants for Building Code cases. Unpaid forfeitures may result in a tax refund interception and/or in certain cases the judge can order a 1-year license suspension and/or suspension of vehicle(s) registration.
Accessibility Services
The Sheboygan Area Municipal Court is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are provided an opportunity to appear in court and present their case to the Judge. Our facility is accessible to people with disabilities.