The City of Humboldt has set a lower than expected average property tax increase this year.

During budget deliberations, City Council had decided it wanted to keep the average tax increase to two per cent, city manager Joe Day said.

However the city discovered it’s receiving more property tax revenue than expected from new construction.

“We’re still getting the growth in tax revenue of two per cent, but because of new construction we don’t have to increase everybody’s tax bill by two per cent,” Day said.

Across the board, the average increase now stands at around one per cent.

Council passed a mill rate bylaw on Monday in which most commercial properties will not see much of a tax increase, and some property owners that saw large increases last year should see a decrease in 2018, Day said.

Most residential property owners will see about a two per cent tax increase.

Council didn’t change the rate for any of the base taxes per property.

The annual hospital levy of $42 per property will disappear from residents’ bills this year, as the city’s loan has been paid off.