Municipalities in the Esterhazy-Rocanville area will be receiving an additional $1,150,000 in potash tax sharing this year, with RMs receiving up to $384,000 more than last year, and towns receiving up to $49,000 more than last year.
Fertile Belt Reeve Arlynn Kurtz is happy for the help with the increased money from the potash tax sharing distribution.
The RM of Fertile Belt is set to receive an additional $384,854.58 this year from the potash tax. It’s a 45.43 per cent increase to the $847,153.14 they received last year for a total of $1,232,007.72.
Kurtz says they don’t yet have a plan for the money, but it will go into their budget.
“It’s going to go into our general budget and it will help,” said Kurtz. “Number one, it will eliminate the need to increase mill rates.”
With future projects in the works, he says this money can help them make upgrades throughout the RM.
“The majority of it will probably be used for some infrastructure work. I know we’ve had some projects that we’ve done over the winter so it will help offset those,” said Kurtz. “We might have to upgrade some equipment, so it could be used there.”
The money they receive from the potash tax usually goes into their budget with no plans for it specifically and Kurtz is happy with the potential for this increase to put them in a better budget situation.
“Generally it just goes into our regular budget. We just use it in our regular maintenance of the RM. Really this year we’ll probably be close to a normal budget year. We really haven’t had one of those since probably 2011,” said Kurtz. Overall, Kurtz is optimistic with the extra money the RM received, but knows that number might come down in the future and Fertile Belt would be smart to make sure they put some money away from this for later years.
