Ratepayers in High River are going to have to dig just a little bit deeper this year.

Town council set the tax rate at its meeting Monday afternoon.

Town Manager Tom Maier says it's a modest increase.

"Overall we're looking at a 2.9 per cent tax increase which is made up of a 2.8 per cent overall tax increase on residential properties and a 3.4 per cent increase on the commercial properties," he says.

Maier says for a property assessed at $300,000 that'll mean about $70-dollars more.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass says he's heard from business owners like motor vehicle and RV dealers who aren't doing so well in the current economy.

Maier says they have tried to take the economy and the struggles of businesses into account when coming up with their tax rate.

"We had a fair bit of growth this past year in our commercial tax assessment, or commercial property assessment, and that's from a few developments coming on board so that's helped soften the burden of going to a higher commercial tax rate," he says.

In the past the residential and commercial rates were the same but last year they settled on a ratio on 1 to 1.15, residential to commercial tax rates. This year that has gone up to 1 to 1.2, still one of the lowest in the area, as was pointed out by councillors Peter Loran and Dragan Brankovich.

The town is also putting about a $1.1 million into capital reserves.

Municipal property taxes have to paid by Monday August 1, 2016.