EPHRATA — The Ephrata City Council approved the city’s $17.9 million 2020 budget at its regular meeting on Wednesday.

That’s a 7.5 percent increase over the city’s 2019 budget, according to City Administrator Wes Crago.

“Our budget grew because the local economy grew,” Crago told the council. “More people are using water and sewer, more people are buying houses.”

Crago said because of that, the city is adding its first full-time public works employee in a long time.

Of the $17.9 million, the city is set to spend $4.4 million in its current expense general fund — $2.8 million, or nearly two-thirds, is budgeted for the city’s police department, with another $562,000 for the city’s fire department.

Crago told council members that the upcoming $12.5 percent rise in the state’s minimum wage on Jan. 1 to $13.50 per hour from the current $12 per hour will hit the city’s Splash Zone aquatic park the hardest, and will most likely result in a 10 percent increase in pool fees next summer.

And that made balancing the Parks and Recreation Department’s $1.1 million budget the hardest part of the 2020 budget process.

“Splash Zone is all about personnel,” Crago said.

Crago said that Division Street will be repaved from the bottom of the hill to the Ephrata Municipal Airport. The project will be funded by the state Transportation Department because the money comes from gasoline taxes, and not car tabs, Crago said.

Projects funded by car tabs have been put on hold following the approval by state voters of Initiative 976 last November, which capped vehicle licensing fees at $30.

The city’s 2020 budget also included $4.6 million to run the city’s water and sewer systems and $1.6 million for new water and sewer construction.

The council also reviewed, for a second time and without taking action, a proposed 10-year, $6.9 million program to upgrade the city’s sewage treatment plant and replace or upgrade a number of sewer pipes across the city.

“Our treatment plant was state-of-the-art when it was built in 1999, but parts need to be replaced and fixed to meet new state standards,” Crago said.

The city also needs to replace a number of sewer lines which are either too small, too old or simply too horizontal to allow for a proper flow.

“Dealing with sewer line collapses is expensive,” Crago said. “And we have to flush some sewer lines because they are too flat.”

Crago said the repairs and upgrades would cost around $6.9 million, which would be paid for by a $5 increase in sewer rates slowly phased in over five years beginning in 2021.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.