City of Humboldt council has passed their 2017 budget.

During a public meeting Tuesday, at city hall they did manage to chop an extra percent off the increase however it's still considerable at 6.5 percent.

Originally, they were looking at a moderate increase of three-four percent, a favourable and expected announcement. March 22nd in Regina the provincial government cut the grants in lieu program which quickly turned into an estimated shortfall of $477,000. Mayor Rob Muench spoke on that on budget day.

City Manager Roy Hardy admitted Tuesday that drew them back to the table for a tough choice.

"You get through a budget and you get down to the point where council gives you some direction and you are ready to say we've got the program that you want and the budget turns around and creates a whole list of other issues you have to deal with. It has been a prolonged budget."

The hike of 6.5 percent will average around an $11/month increase for middle class homes.

"The actual impact on an average tax bill is going to be less than that," Hardy explained as there is a small reprieve with the hospital loan coming to a close this year. "The hospital levy is going to be a little less than half of what it's normally been."

Hardy says the purse tightening isn't a one year fix either.

"This is going to still have some repercussions in 2018 we're going to have to prepare for."

The operating portion of the spending $12 million, the capital expenditures equal an estimated $4,75 million. Those include continued work on the water treatment plant, road work and progress on Centennial Park.

Unfortunately the Summer Fun Camps and the sponsorship for the annual Halloween party at the Uniplex was axed.

Staff is now just awaiting reassessment reports from the provincial government before they can finalize the document and send out bills.

"When we get that, that's when we basically come back to council and say how do you want this to be distributed, and come back with a final bylaw that gets past and then we can send tax bills out in the regular manner" Hardy explained.

That is expected in June. You can read more details regarding the budget on the city's website.

You can hear more from Hardy who spoke with Bolt FM's Clark Stork after Monday's meeting.