FAIRMONT– The Martin County Economic Development Authority (EDA) on Monday considered making some revisions to the county tax abatement policy for new construction of single and multi-family housing.

Before discussing changes, County Assessor Mike Sheplee updated the board on the progress of the program. It’s been in existence since 2020 and in that time 37 homes have been approved to be built in Martin County. The program offers up to 100 percent abatement of the county’s portion of real estate taxes on new, single family homes for up to 10 years.

“The new construction value is estimated to be over $15 million at this point on 37 homes, so they’re averaging at about $412,000. In the 10 year time period, the county will be returning almost $600,000 on their portion of the tax but the cities and townships will be collecting $300,000 and the school districts over $500,000,” Sheplee said.

After giving the update, he asked the board to consider a revision to the policy. Since the beginning of the program, Sheplee said they have been taking applications for single family housing, but in reality they’ve discovered that some of the time what’s really been built is a second home or a cabin or a place on the lake for someone outside of the county.

“The board (county commissioners) has said it doesn’t want second homes or cabins to be part of the program so asked that we (EDA) could take a look at the language in the policy,” Shelpee said.

He suggested adding language about what’s eligible, which includes that primary residence of owner or relative (as qualified for relative residential homestead) or rental property where leases are more than 30 days in length. Summer homes, weekend homes, second homes and short-term vacation rentals would not qualify.

Board member Richard Koons, who doubles as a commissioner, suggested they add language about primary residential homestead. He said he wanted to keep the program going, but thought there needed to be some changes made.

“I think there’s a difference between owning a second home and having two primary residences in the county,” Koons said.

Board Member Tim Terfehr asked what difference it made whether the property was a primary residence or not from a tax standpoint.

“Eventually there will be two houses on the market. It could be awhile but eventually there will be. All it’s trying to do is encourage growth in the tax base, which is happening,” Terfehr said of the program.

Sheplee added that the program intends to encourage housing to be built so that people can live and work in the county.

Ultimately the board did not take action on revising the policy.

On Monday the board also heard from Scott Reimer of Federated Rural Electric Association (REA), who asked for an approval of round 10 Border to Border letter of support.

Getting broadband access to all of Martin County has been a priority of the county and the EDA for several years and it has been working with Federated REA for the most part on the project.

“The ask today is the support and specifically for this group… we thought about what

this project would encompass for the county as a whole. Out of the $1.3 million that the group has committed to the broadband project, we figure that this is roughly 60 percent, or $780,000,” Reimer said.

He asked the board to reaffirm its support and showed it a map of the areas that would be impacted by the most recent project. The areas have been identified as “low density” and includes areas by Truman and rural Ceylon.

Reimer said that they would receive 75 percent funding and that Federated would cover the remaining 25 percent.

“About 500 accounts in there could potentially be served,” he said. “These are the locations that we know of that are either under- or un-served locations.”

The total of the project is around $9 million. The last one Federated was approved for, in Jackson County, was around $10. 3 million. However, Reimer said the projects seem to be coming in under-budget and funds can therefore go back into the pool.

He reiterated that he’d like the board to reaffirm its support of the project. The board unanimously approved the letter of support.

Finally, EDA consultants, Joshua Schuetz and Amber Patten provided brief updates on some of the many projects in the works which includes a partnership with Fairmont Economic Development Authority (FEDA) on work with the Retail Coach.

“We’re looking at eight to 10 business that are looking to come to Fairmont and we’re having our next meeting with Ned (Koppen) from FEDA this Thursday,” Patten said.

Schuetz said that he had attended a township meeting and a broadband meeting and has been engaged with the courthouse mural project. He has also been working on a mural project with the city of Ceylon.

“In the city of Northrop we submitted a $10,000 grant for a backup generator and later this month we’ll submit another $10,000 grant though the Minnesota Department of Health,” Patten said.

In closing, Patten and Schuetz submitted a 2023 EDA report to the board, which was accepted and filed.