Washington County, WI Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Washington County Code § 172-7B(3) singles out amplified sound equipment within the County's general noise ordinance: using, operating, or permitting to be played, any radio receiving set, musical instrument, phonograph, loudspeaker, sound amplifier, public address system or other machine or device that produces sound loud enough to disturb the peace or the quiet and peacefulness of the neighborhood is a violation. Unlike the nighttime radio rule at § 172-7B(2), Subsection B(3) carries no fixed curfew hours and no property-line audibility test; instead it is judged by whether the volume disturbs the peace and quiet of the surrounding neighborhood, so a loud PA system or outdoor speaker can violate the section at any hour if it is loud enough.

The prohibition sits within § 172-7A's general standard against sounds that tend to annoy or disturb a person of ordinary sensibilities in or about a public street, alley, park or private residence, and Subsection C's exemptions, County, state, city, village and town vehicles on public business, emergency equipment, snow removal equipment and agricultural implements of husbandry, apply equally to amplified sound complaints. A violation is enforced under § 172-23 through the Chapter 1 General Penalty: a forfeiture of not less than $10 nor more than $2,000, plus court costs, with up to 90 days in the County Jail if the forfeiture and costs go unpaid, issued through the uniform citation method adopted at § 172-22.