LAKE DELTON, Wis. -- Nearly one year after homeowners had their land and houses demolished or swept away in the draining of Lake Delton, they have formally filed a claim for $1.3 million with the village.

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Village clerk Kay Mackesey said that the notice of claim was hand-delivered Monday to the village.

The homeowners' initial paperwork, the "Notice of Circumstances of Claim," was filed in early September. The homeowners have alleged the village was negligent in its handling of the situation and in its operation of the lake dam.

In June 2008, homes fell apart and were swept away by a flooded Lake Delton. The lake dam held, but the lake breached its banks at a low spot, tore an opening through a county highway and dumped into the nearby Wisconsin River.

In all, five homes and nine lots were destroyed.

The former owners said the village should have shored up their subdivision instead of the dam.

Now, they want the village cover personal property losses, like furniture, and the difference between what they said is the fair market value of their property and the $2.3 million they got from the state for condemnation rights.

The owners did receive assessed value compensation for their land and homes from the state Department of Transportation as it rebuilt the area and the highway.

The village has said in the past it did the best it could under unique flooding conditions and operated the lake dam appropriately and in accordance with all state Department of Natural Resources rules.

The village has denied it was negligent in any way, and village trustee Tom Diehl said he was hoping they'd drop the claim.

"I was hoping that they would step back and look at the entire situation in the context that it happened," Diehl said. "I personally feel the DOT treated all the property owners very fairly with paying the equalized value that was on the tax roll. I didn't hear them complain they were under-assessed."

The village now has four months to accept or reject the claim. If the village rejects it, the homeowners could file a lawsuit.