Ephrata mulls $18.1 million budget
EPHRATA — The city of Ehprata is considering a proposed $18.1 million budget for 2017, a 13 percent increase over this year’s budget.
According to City Manager Wes Crago, the proposed budget — which has still not been finalized — includes some major projects, such as the $3.2 million replacement of the Basin Street waterline and the resurfacing on much of Nat Washington Way.
“Without grants and loans for those projects, the budget is only going up 0.2 percent,” Crago told the city council at a meeting Wednesday evening.
About half of the proposed overall budget, which will not be finalized until the City Council’s next meeting in early December, is set to be spent on construction ($4.5 million) and the city’s water and sewer system ($4.3 million).
Crago said the replacement of the water line is essential, as the current pipes were installed in 1947.
“They were surplus pipes unused from D-Day,” he said, holding up a six-inch section of badly pitted and corroded water pipe he uses to emphasize just how essential the project is.
Crago said that costs at the city’s municipal swimming pool are set to rise 16 percent in the 2017 budget when the state’s minimum wage rises to $11 per hour on Jan. 1 following the passage of Initiative 1433 this month.
“We don’t make money at the pool; we raise rates to meet expenses,” Crago said.
About a quarter — or $4.2 million — of 2017’s projected revenue is slated to go to the city’s general fund, with 75 percent of the general fund budgeted for police and fire protection.
Crago emphasized that only .01 percent of city revenues in 2017 are projected to come from traffic tickets and fines.
“There are no quotas, no incentive to write extra tickets,” he said. “We don’t make any money on fines and tickets.”
The council also approved $40,000 in grants from the city’s hotel tax fund. The fund is intended to support promotion and marketing of Ephrata tourism, and the city council approved recommendations from the Tourism Commission to give $3,000 to the car show, $11,000 to support Basin Summer Sounds, $15,000 for CB Youth Baseball, and $11,000 to promote Ephrata tourism.
“There’s been a lot of construction in Quincy, and we’ve done very well with the lodging tax,” Cargo told the city council.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com
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