The Emmaus Borough Council approved a 6.8 percent tax increase as well as a new sewer fee of $49 a year at the Dec. 19 council meeting.

Borough Manager Shane Pepe reiterated from the previous council meeting the tax increase is being generated from the $750,000 of increases in salaries, benefits and pensions from the new increase in borough staff.

Areas where staff were increased included the ambulance corps, a full-time public works employee and the police department which is now fully staffed for the first time in several years.

The ordinance will raise taxes by 5.5065 mills which will be split between a general tax fund of 4.8754 mills and a fire fund tax of 0.6311 mills. With the new rate, Pepe said a homeowner whose property is assessed at the borough’s average of $163,000 would pay roughly $794 in real estate taxes or an additional $57 from previous years.

It was once again emphasized the tax increase has no correlation to the purchase of the future borough hall at 33 E. Minor St.

The additional sewer fee stems from the future upgrade at the Allentown sewer plant.

The U.S. Environmental Protection agency is requiring infrastructure upgrades at the sewer plant to prevent raw sewage from getting into the Little Lehigh Creek. Emmaus township, along with several other Lehigh Valley municipalities, are being required to help pay for the new infrastructure. The borough is responsible for 3.5 percent, which is roughly $875,000.

Council wanted to get ahead of schedule by creating a “reserve fund.” They divided the $875,000 into four years and will charge users based on the size of their water meter. The average resident will be paying an additional $49 a year until 2020.

Also passed was the finalized 2017 fiscal budget. The budget, which totals $16,726,820, is $1,733,783 higher than the 2016 budget.

In other business, Ordinance 1153 passed its first reading which amends the Emmaus zoning ordinance of 1993 to allow districting for regulated medical marijuana facilities.

Councilman Jeff Shubzda said someone inquired about some of the buildings in the area as soon as Pennsylvania passed the medical marijuana bill.

“There’s a fine line of what you can and can’t regulate,” Pepe said. “You have to treat it as if it were a medical facility.”

The only forms of medical marijuana that are allowed to be sold are pill and liquid forms.

Ordinance 1152 passed its first reading, which deals with abandoned or foreclosed properties in the borough.

“We’ve had issues in the past where we don’t know who to get in touch with or who’s holding the lease or what bank is controlling it,” Shubzda said. “This will allow us to contact this individual or company that owns the building and be able to work with them in regards to taking care of the remnants of the abandoned building.”

Council unanimously approved to allow the rental of the Cintas and Klines Lane soccer fields to Western Lehigh Soccer Club for $5,000 a year.

The rental includes weekdays after 3 p.m. and all day on weekends. Pepe noted there has been little demand for use of the field and if a group is interested in renting the fields they will have to contact Western Lehigh.