RMs will see more revenue | Increased employment, other benefits will come with mine
Saskatchewan rural municipalities at the centre of potash development may be stretched right now, but they all say it will be worth it in the end.
The hassles of road construction and paperwork will be rewarded with increased tax revenue, more people and a revitalized rural economy.
“It’s an exciting time for this area,” said Rodney Audette, administrator in the RM of Dufferin.
“They’re going to see development like they haven’t seen in the past 50, 70 years.”
The K+S Potash Canada Legacy Project, in the Bethune area, holds the distinction of being the first greenfield potash mine in Saskatchewan in 40 years.
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The $3.25 billion solution mine will employ 1,100 people at peak construction. After it opens in 2015, it will offer 320 permanent positions.
While the mine is close enough to Moose Jaw and Regina that employees can commute, Audette said both the RM and the village of Bethune anticipate some people will choose the quieter country life and live closer to work.
He said the RM hasn’t yet established country residential subdivisions, but the village is talking to developers and looking at perhaps 50 new lots.
Studies done for the two mines furthest along in the construction process suggest populations in nearby communities will grow, as will the opportunities for jobs for professionals and those in the trades and service industries.
However, a bigger benefit will be from taxation.
Municipalities stand to gain property tax revenue through the municipal potash tax sharing arrangement the province established. Communities within a 32-kilometre radius of a mine shaft and head frame receive a share of the property tax paid by the mining company.
Jerry McGrath, reeve in the RM of LeRoy, said his RM already gets a share of the tax revenue from the Potash Corp. mine at Lanigan. It will get more when the BHP Billiton mine in LeRoy goes ahead.
Even though the mine is taking about 50 quarters of land out of the agricultural tax base, McGrath said there is an upside.
“It will be more revenue than what we take in in our entire tax base right now,” he said.
Bruce Elke, reeve of the RM of Prairie Rose, said some residents have expressed concern that the benefits of more people and economic activity won’t actually materialize.
They point to Guernsey, a small community near Lanigan that didn’t benefit from that mine, and they see farmers leaving land that the mine has acquired for its operations.
BHP studies on municipal impacts predict the overall population in the area will climb by one-third.
“BHP has said they want workers living in the area,” said McGrath. “There is a two percent growth prediction (for the RM of LeRoy), and we haven’t had growth in 20 years.”
The town of LeRoy could grow by 450 to 800 people.
Jansen is a smaller centre, but it does offer amenities such as a bowling alley.
BHP has said the 2,500 workers who will live in a rural work camp during construction will use that facility and the rink in LeRoy to support the communities.
LeRoy administrator Joan Fedak said she expects urban centres will see more impacts than rural areas, but like Audette, anticipates that some mine workers will buycountry residential acreages.
