
Parcel Identification Number

A Primer on the Bayfield County Parcel Identification Number

Coincidental with Bayfield County’s development and migration to a new Tax Assessment Database is the conversion from our existing 12-digit Parcel Identification Number (PIN) to a new 23-digit PIN. We have now transitioned to this new PIN. Fortunately, in most instances, this number will be dutifully working in the background, oblivious to most users. Those who must use these PINs may initially find them unwieldy, but there are sound reasons for this conversion:

This new PIN system adopts components of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue parcel numbering system.
This new PIN system has geographic significance and is tied to the Public Land Survey System.
This new PIN system supports Data Exchange Standards that require the use of unique PINs in data sharing arrangements.
This new PIN system complies with the Wisconsin Land Information Program’s recommended PIN standard.
This new PIN system will assist Bayfield County fulfill its charge to maintain records of ownership of real property.

A new Parcel Identification Number may look like this: 04012243072210027819000

Confusing? Here is what that same number looks like if we clarify it by inserting some hyphens:

04-012-2-43-07-22-1-00-278-19000

And here is a breakdown and explanation of what this all means:

From Left to Right, the PIN numbers signify the following:

First 2 Digits = County Code (Bayfield County is 04 as defined by Department of Revenue);

Next 3 Digits = Municipal Code (Each Town, City, Village is assigned a code number);

Next 1 Digit = Direction from 4th Meridian (Bayfield County is 2 [west]);

Next 2 Digits = Township (43 to 52);

Next 2 Digits = Range (03 to 09);

Next 2 Digits = Section (01 to 36);

Next 1 Digit = Quarter Section (1 to 4, 0 for Govt. Lot);

Next 2 Digits = Quarter-Quarter Section (Also includes Government Lots, Subdivisions, and Condominiums);

Next 3 Digits = Entity Code (Each Subdivision or Condominium is assigned a unique number);

Next 5 Digits = Parcel ID (Subdivision Lot, Block, and/or Splits)

(NOTE: The first 18 digits of the PIN are intelligent numbers that have a protocol that is consistent and fixed; the last 5 digits are variable)

Let us now apply our newfound knowledge by looking at the following example:

PIN# 04012243072210027819000

(With hyphens, 04-012-2-43-07-22-1-00-278-19000)

04=Bayfield County, 012=Town of Cable, 2=West of 4th Meridian, 43=Township 43 North, 07=Range 7 West, 22=Section 22, 1=It is in the NE ¼ of Section 22, 00=It is in a subdivision, 278=Subdivision is the Silver Birch Addition to Wilde River, 19000=It is Lot 19 of the Silver Birch Subdivision --- Easy, no?

Other Items of Interest:

In order to continue to provide you with on-line access to Bayfield County’s land records, a couple of other changes have taken place to facilitate the conversion to the new Parcel Identification Numbers:

MapViewer, Bayfield County’s interactive web mapping service, has been modified to accept the new PIN, (as well as the old PIN), and use those numbers to execute property ownership queries.
Our 2,000 individual Property Ownership Maps, both the paper copies available at the County Courthouse, and the digital copies available on our web site, have been comprehensively updated to display the new PIN. On the revised Property Ownership Maps the first 12 digits of the PIN, (which are common to all parcels on that particular map page), will appear in the upper-left map margin. The remaining 11 digits of a specific parcel’s PIN will appear on the map either atop or connected with a leader to its respective parcel.

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