Ephrata passes $16.5 million budget for 2019

EPHRATA — The Ephrata City Council unanimously passed its proposed $16.5 million budget on Wednesday.

The budget includes $4.3 million for the city’s general operating fund, $6 million for water and sewer (including $1.6 million for construction), $1.5 May million for sanitation, and roughly $1 million each to fund the city’s parks and maintain the city’s streets.

The budget is about 15 percent less than the 2018 budget. However, Ephrata’s 2018 budget included funding for the replacement of the Basin Street water main. Without that construction project, City Administrator Wes Crago said Ephrata’s 2019 budget is roughly the same as its 2018 budget.

Of the general fund, roughly $2.8 million (65 percent) is for law enforcement while roughly $557,000 (13 percent) is for fire protection.

“Law enforcement is the lion’s share,” Crago said.

The city’s budget is split up into 21 funds, of which the general fund and the water and sewer funds are the largest.

According to Crago, about 44 percent of the $16.5 million needed to fund the city in 2019, roughly $7.3 million, comes from utility fees, with $1.3 million coming from sales taxes, $1.2 million coming from property taxes, and $5.1 million coming in the form of transfer payments from the state and federal governments.