MARSHALL — Lyon County Commissioners approved a taxpayer’s application to buy back a tax forfeited property earlier this week. But Commissioner Charlie Sanow said it was frustrating that things had gotten to that point.

“To me, communication would have solved all of this,” Sanow said. He said the property owners should have contacted the county Auditor/Treasurer’s Office about delinquent taxes on the parcel.

The repurchase application was one of the items of business that sparked the most discussion at the commissioners’ meeting on Tuesday. Property owner Barbara Myhre and attorney Greg Bucher were at the meeting to present an application to buy back a property on Soucy Drive in Marshall.

The parcel of land was forfeited to the state in May. County staff said if commissioners approved the repurchase application, the total amount the property owners would owe was $16,647. That amount included delinquent taxes dating back to 2012.

According to Minnesota statutes, property owners may submit a written application to the county board asking to repurchase a tax-forfeited property, if the property is their homestead. The county board would have to approve or disapprove the request by resolution. The board can approve an application only if certain conditions are met. The board would have to find that repurchasing the property would correct “undue hardship or injustice” caused by the tax forfeiture, or it would have to determine that allowing the repurchase would best serve the public interest.

Sanow questioned whether approving the application would correct an “undue hardship” for Myhre. He asked Lyon County Auditor/Treasurer E.J. Moberg if Myhre had communicated with the Auditor/Treasurer’s office about the property taxes in the past six years. Moberg said the office hadn’t received any communications that he knew of.

“It’s really difficult to see them excluded” from working with the property owners, Sanow said.

Bucher said approving Myhre’s application to repurchase the property would correct an injustice caused by the tax forfeiture. If the Myhres were unable to repurchase the property, they would lose $170,000 in equity, the application said. The repurchase application said the property was the Myhre family’s remaining asset.

Myhre said her family had gone through major financial reversals caused by failed investments.

“I did not know how to handle it,” Myhre said. She apologized to Moberg and the board. “I’m sorry, I really am.”

Sanow moved that Lyon County Attorney Rick Maes draft a resolution approving the repurchase application.

The motion passed, but Sanow suggested that Myhre talk to Moberg in the future.