Ephrata adopts 2021 budget, eyes major projects

EPHRATA — The Ephrata Council last Wednesday unanimously approved the city’s $22.4 million total budget for 2021.

The budget includes $4.7 million in operating expenses — which covers police, fire and city administration — as well as $5.7 million for upgrades to the city’s sewer system, $1.7 million for garbage collection and $1.5 million to maintain the city’s streets and roads as part of the transportation benefit district (TBD) approved by Ephrata voters several years ago.

Of the $4.7 million in operating expenses, $3 million of that is for law enforcement, $1 million is for city administration, and $698,000 is for firefighting.

“This is 25% higher than the 2020 budget,” said City Clerk and Finance Director Leslie Trachsler during the online meeting last Wednesday. “And that’s due to major projects like the Division Street resurfacing and the sewer upgrades.”

In addition to resurfacing Division Street from the railroad tracks to Port of Ephrata, Trachsler said the city has also budgeted to buy two new police cars and is saving for a new sewer vac truck and a firetruck.

“It’s a busy year with all the construction that is going to go on,” said Public Works Director Bill Sangster.

Trachsler said that “sales tax revenue is at record highs” and that the city collected more in the first 11 months of 2020 than it did in all of 2019.

More than half of the city’s revenue, around $13 million, will come from fees charged to city water, sewer and garbage users, with the rest deriving from a combination of sales and property taxes.

In 2019, Ephrata put a new roof on the city’s library, upgraded one of its city wells, chlorinated the city’s water system and built new sidewalks on C Street, from Parkway Boulevard to Ephrata High School.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].