2026 potash tax sharing changes will have an impact on local municipalities
December 8, 2025, 11:04 am
Nicole Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
With some municipalities seeing large increases and others seeing major decreases in estimated potash tax sharing distribution in 2026, the 2026 numbers will have a significant impact on towns, villages and RMs in the Esterhazy and Rocanville area of influence.
The town of Rocanville is set to receive an estimated increase of $193,375.60 in 2026, bringing the total dollars received by the town to $387,493.30.
Town Administrator Tanya Strandlund says the town was anticipating an increase due to the changing area of influence in 2026, but it was still a nice surprise to see the estimates, which came before Rocanville town council at their meeting last Wednesday.
“We anticipated it. It had been announced to all the communities a couple of years ago, so it was anticipated,” she says. “It’s still projected, it’s not a definite, and we will wait and be very excited if it becomes a definite,” she says.
Originally the town of Rocanville was planning to use the extra potash tax distribution money annually to help cover the cost of the loan for the newly refurbished aquatic centre, but when an extra $1.8 million in ICIP grant money was announced for the pool this fall, that meant the potash tax sharing distribution for Rocanville could also be used on other things.
“Basically what was going around the council table last night when this was being discussed was gratitude,” says Strandlund. “Rocanville has been in the paper and the news quite a bit in regards to (funding) increases and we honestly can’t say thank you enough to the people doing that, the different calculations, and obviously the ministry had a lot to do with the ICIP being increased, and the potash board and the new calculations have a lot to do with the potash tax sharing increase as well. So basically it’s just gratitude.
“It’s budget season so it just means we can do more for the community and it will cost them less.
“It was anticipated that the additional potash tax distribution was going to be for the pool loan payment, but because that is drastically going down, some of it will go toward that, but the rest is just going to go back into services and infrastructure improvement for the community.
“We’ll be able to do more for Rocanville and it’s a really good feeling.”
Conversely, the town of Esterhazy will be seeing a reduction of $127,319 this year in potash tax sharing distribution. Mayor Randy Bot says the town was expecting that, but it will make things slightly tougher come budget time.
“The $127,319 change in potash tax-sharing is significant, and it does impact our planning for 2026,” he says. “We’ve been budgeting cautiously over the past few years, so we were prepared for the possibility that revenues could shift. That said, a change of this size still means we’ll need to look closely at our 2026 budget to ensure we maintain core services without placing extra burden on ratepayers.
“We may need to adjust the timing of some non-essential capital projects or scale certain initiatives to match available funding. Our priority remains delivering essential services, keeping infrastructure strong, and continuing to move forward on key community priorities like healthcare, water, and recreation.
“Esterhazy has always budgeted responsibly, and even with this challenge, we’re in a strong position to adapt.”
