Somerset Regional Council handed down its Budget on Wednesday which will see a 1.5 per cent rate increase for those on the minimum general rate and reductions across all but five rating categories.

It will also see an increase in the environmental levy to $41.50 as the region battles environmental and agricultural pest plants.

Somerset Mayor Graeme Lehmann said state land valuation increases would affect ratepayers differently across the region with the reductions in the rate as a percentage of land valuations.

The Budget includes $41 million in infrastructure spending, with key projec