Earlier this week, the Mower County Board of Commissioners approved an amended version of its tax abatement policy that it hopes will simplify the process for the county as well as make it a little more fair for homeowners building attached garages over 1,000 square feet.

The decision by board members came after it was discussed in a work session last week. The amended policy largely addresses homes built with attached garages that also serve as shops, or Shouses.

The policy before allowed for abatements on homes with garage spaces of up to 1,000 square feet, however, anything after that requires manual calculations on the county’s part, which is just another touch-point in the process.

The amended policy raises that max to 1,200 square, which will also reach more qualified homes being built in the county and takes away some of the required manual calculations.

According to Val Sheedy, Mower County assistant public works director, eight homes were built last year using the county’s tax abatement and of those two were right at or over the 1,000 square feet marker for the new garage space.

This new policy will likely cover most shouse spaces with Sheedy saying during the Feb. 4 work session that it should reach 99% of the abatement requests brought to the county.

However, the policy also contains a change regarding unoccupied homes in need of repair, but still retain value.

This part of the policy now maintains that a home that does have value and is in need of repair does not qualify for added value improvements tax abatement unless the structure is fully removed and replaced.