No change to minimum tax in 2026 budget

Rocanville Town Council

May 11, 2026, 10:24 am
Nicole Taylor Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The town of Rocanville passed its budget at their town council meeting on Wednesday, with no change to the town’s minimum tax or mill rate.

For decades, Rocanville has set its minimum tax high enough so that all properties pa the same amount of tax. All residential, commercial and agriculture properties with improvements will continue to pay $1,900. Empty lots will play $275. The mill rate will remain at 1 mill.
The town will take in $790,275 in total taxation in 2026.

The town’s total revenue is budgeted at $3,198,295.48, and total expenditures are budgeted at $3,131,412.32 for a surplus of $66,883.16.

One thing that is unique in this year’s budget is no money set aside for paving or patching. Town Administrator Tanya Strandlund says the decision was made to fix some of the infrastructure under the streets this year, and hold off on surface street repairs so that money spent on those repairs is not wasted if the infrastructure underneath first needs to be fixed.

“This is due to the fact that we are going to take that and put that into underground infrastructure. It seems we are constantly paving a street and cutting it up to fix up a water break, so we are pushing paving back for one year.”

The town has budgeted $150,000 for underground infrastructure repairs on water and sewer and hopes to be able to do a few blocks this year.

Other expenditures include the town’s $134,000 annual grant to the rec department which is split between each facility. The RM of Rocanaville also gives $50,000 to recreation each year.

The town has also budgeted $85,000 for water treatment plant repairs, about half of which will be spent on filter repairs.

“We should have our filters for the water treatment plant repaired and tested next week,” says Strandlund. “We have done the waterworks assessment through Associated Engineering and the next step is reviewing that with the Water Security Agency, our operators, town council and engineers and deciding the direction we need to go with the water treatment plant, and if it’s repairs or replacement.

“We have also put a big focus on our wells this year to make sure we ar always able to provide water to the town so that in event of a massive emergency, there is always water available.”

The town has budgeted $75,000 for well maintenance.
Another $40,000 has been budgeted for sidewalk repair, to ensure the accessible areas of the sidewalks are in good shape with long-term plans to replace all of the sidewalks over time.

“We are making smart decisions on water and our facilities and making everything accessible,” says Strandlund.

In addition to taxation, the town received a significant increase in potash tax sharing from $194,000 the year previous to $394,000 in 2026. “That will help a lot in regards to repairing infrastructure that has been aging and make it so we can do a little more each year,” says Strandlund.

The town is also receiving $287,558 in revenue sharing this year, up from $264,086 in 2205.

The town will also be putting its $54,00 CCBF funding toward a backup generator at the lift station.