Business incentives

Rice County provides the following economic development incentives, and is committed to meeting the financial and tax needs of our business partners. This includes finding creative solutions to financial needs, helping to identify resources and understanding the role of tax incentives in determining business location and growth needs.

Revolving loans

To stimulate private sector investment in facilities and equipment in order to create/retain jobs for local residents and to upgrade facilities to maintain competitiveness and/or boost productivity; and provide affordable loans for expansion and/or rehabilitation of commercial and industrial buildings in order to maintain the commercial and industrial viability of Rice County and its communities.

Tax abatements

Tax abatement encourages private development projects by allowing the rebate of property taxes to the property owner, reallocating the taxes to pay for public infrastructure costs or deferring the property taxes and rebating the interest penalty.

Business subsidies

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  1. Kathy Feldbrugge

    Economic Development Coordinator
    Email
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  2. Economic Development

    Email the Economic Development Department

    Physical Address
    Government Services Building
    320 Third St. NW
    Faribault, MN 55021

    Phone: 507-332-6091
    Fax: 507-333-3848

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  1. Agreements set the stage for $32M, 70,000 sq. ft. expansion
  2. Boards give early OK to assistance for planned treatment center
  3. Tax abatement will help business relocate

Tru Vue

A pair of agreements approved Sept. 13, 2022 will help a longtime manufacturer nearly double the size of its facility, automate its processes and upskill its workforce.

Following two public hearings, the Rice County Board of Commissioners and Faribault City Council, meeting in a special joint that evening session, authorized a development contract and 10-year tax abatement for Tru Vue, which manufactures high-performance glass glazing products.

The company, located on 17.3 acres in northwest Faribault. plans to construct a $32 million, 70,000 square-foot expansion. It employs about 160 locally.

The abatement will impact Rice County and city of Faribault property taxes on the new construction only, and will lessen over the 10-year period, beginning in 2025. The exact abatement will be established in January 2024 once the county assessor determines the new construction’s valuation, but is expected to be nearly $700,000 over the 10 years.

While tax abatements are typically associated with job growth, the agreements approved Tuesday ensure the company remains in the city, Faribault Community and Economic Development Director Deanna Kuennen said. The expansion also allows Tru Vue to automate its process and provide employees additional skills.

In an August meeting of the two boards, Kuennen noted that Tru Vue, like companies across the nation, has struggled to fill open positions, using temporary workers to fill the gaps. The automation, she said, will limit its reliance on temps.

“Our goal is to keep existing employees,” Tru Vue Human Resources Director Mandi Morrissey said during the August session.

Jim Purfeerst, Rice County Board of Commissioners chair, was happy to support the plans. “This is a good opportunity to bring economic growth into Rice County,” he said. 

Tru Vue and Viracon, which operates an architectural glass manufacturing facility in Owatonna, are both subsidiaries of Apogee Enterprises.