Rice County Votes to Waive Liquor License Fees

The Rice County Board of Commissioners voted today unanimously to waive liquor license fees for bars and restaurant for 2021.  Property Tax and Elections Department Director Denise Anderson said she and City Administrator Sara Folsted were in agreement with the action.

Anderson said, "This is not the one time temporary license. These are the establishments that are open all year.  This would be a $20,000 savings for all the liquor license establishments and it would be a $20,000 hit to my budget but I feel like we could support that this year due to what they have went through."

County Attorney John Fossum gave the board details about the purchase of two properties by the county.  On is the current Knight Barry Building at 306 First Avenue NW in Faribault.  It's just east of the jail building.  Purchase price was $140,000 and was unanimously approved by the Board of Commissioners.

The other property was also unaimously approved and is located at 1900 2nd Avenue Northwest.

Fossum stated, "In the 1980's the board granted a easement to the owner at the time which of course runs forever to allow them to drive over the parking lot at the Historical Society, that has created some issues since then.  In December the board authorized me to negotiate a purchase of the property."

The property was purchased for $170.000.  No word on the plans for either location were discussed during the County Board meeting.

County Highway Engineer Dennis Luebbe submitted the bridge priority list for Rice County in 2021 saying, "This is something we do every year just to kind of identify to the state our needs and our needs total 5 million 225 thousand dollars this year."