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Pipestone County Commissioners during their Dec. 23 meeting voted to extend the county’s home tax abatement program until Dec. 31, 2028.
The Pipestone County Home initiative program began in 2017 and has been renewed for three-year terms since then. The previous term expired Dec. 31.
According to the policy, it’s intent is to “provide incentives to encourage the construction of new single-family homes and to encourage replacement of dilapidated housing structures with newly constructed single-family homes, thereby increasing the tax capacity within Pipestone County.”
According to the policy, anyone who builds a new single-family home and applies for the program could be eligible to receive 100 percent abatement of Pipestone County’s share of the increased real estate taxes. The abatement must be approved before construction begins. The abatement begins once construction of the home is completed and lasts for three years as long as all conditions are met. The county provides the approved abatement payment annually following the payment of the real estate taxes.
“It’s the county’s share of the new home only,” said Pipestone County Auditor-Treasurer Amanda Sandy. “No other buildings or structures.”
Prior to the commissioners voting to approve the updated program for another three-year term, Sandy provided a summary of the new home abatement program since it began. According to that information, abatements have been approved for 56 parcels and the total abatement amount paid since the program began was $119,892 as of the end of 2025.
Commissioners spoke in favor of the program.
“It’s just another little incentive to build something new,” said Commissioner Dallas Roskamp, who utilized the program and received a total abatement of $1,765 between 2020 and 2022.