BLUE EARTH– The Faribault County Board of Commissioners welcomed the city administrators from Blue Earth, Wells and Winnebago to their meeting on Tuesday to help clarify some aspects of the tax abatement policy adopted by both the county and the three cities earlier this summer.

“Does the person have to apply for the tax abatement before work begins?” commissioner Bill Groskreutz asked.

“Yes,” answered Blue Earth city administrator Mary Kennedy. “A person would have to get a building permit before they could begin any work on their site and that is when they would apply for the tax abatement.”

Wells city administrator Connor LaPointe explained that if a building site has a garage on it but no house, it would be considered a non-conforming site.

“Non-conforming sites are not eligible for the tax abatement,” LaPointe explained.

The county approved their first application for a new housing tax abatement for Ron and Carolyn Howe of Winnebago during their meeting on Aug. 1. There had been some concern that work had started on the site before the application for a tax abatement had been made.

Winnebago city administrator Judi Hynes cleared up the confusion.

“The work people saw was the demolition of the old site which had been destroyed by a fire,” Hynes explained. “They (Ron and Carolyn) had to get permits and have inspections before any new work began.”

The commissioners also:

— Set the date and time for the Truth in Taxation Meeting for Dec. 19, at 6 p.m., in the County Board Meeting Room.

— Approved the training request of Amy Wachlin of the License Bureau to attend the MDRA (Minnesota Deputy Registrars Association) annual meeting.

— Approved the request of Marsha Leschefske of the county attorney’s office to attend a training course for the main management program, PbK, (ProsecutorbyKarpel) used by the office.

— Voted to approve further training for Erin Beske of the Faribault County Sheriff’s Department to learn more about civil process laws.