1ST TAX BILLS AS ASSURED

Brucher Street residents will receive tax bills for special assessments soon -- the first issued under the city's Transportation Trust Fund program.

As promised when the voters approved the fund in August 1995, property owners on Brucher will pay $10 per frontage foot for paving. In a letter to the City Council, City Engineer Mark Lester said the residents jointly will pay $29,138 for pavements, curbs and drainage.

The half-cent trust fund sales tax will pay $42,042, the remainder of the cost. Total cost per frontage foot was $24.42.

Mayor Al Spradling III said residents on Magnolia, Jasmine and Dixie streets can look to Brucher as an example of how the trust fund works for the people. The three streets are next on the list of gravel stretches to be paved.

"We prioritized the streets based on what the community wanted," Spradling said Sunday. "We are following that plan, and it's going very smoothly."

Property owners on certain streets won't get the same deal as those on gravel roads, he said. For example, design work is being finalized to improve Bloomfield Road and Broadway. Right of way likely will have to be purchased and other extra expenses paid, meaning property owners will have a higher cost per frontage foot.

Spradling said Cape Girardeau citizens should see a lot more road work getting done late this year and early next year than in the time between the Transportation Trust Fund's establishment and today.

He and the rest of the City Council will vote at their regular meeting tonight to issue the tax bills on Brucher. Thanks to the $10-per-foot formula, the highest will be $1,850 and the lowest only $400.

Property owners will have 60 days to pay the bills or contact the city clerk to be put on a payment plan. The interest rate will be 7.016 percent per year.

Samuel Johnson, who lives on the corner of Brucher and Bertling, said he is ready to get his special assessment.

"They've taken a long time getting the bills out," he said. "The work was done three months ago. But it is a lot nicer than gravel, that's for sure."

Kim Hagler lives near the other end of Brucher, on a steep hill that was nearly impossible to get over in icy weather.

She said her only concern about the improvements is that water doesn't go into a culvert as intended. Instead, it runs down the middle of the street "like a waterslide." Other than that, she loves driving out onto a paved road.

"When we bought our house 10 years ago, the Realtor told us paving Brucher was on the city's five-year plan," she said. "We had our doubts that it would ever happen at all. We knew it would cost the city a large amount of money.

"Now we're very pleased."