ABOUT FACE: COUNCIL TOPS FEE-INCREASE CAP

The Cape Girardeau City Council has done what it said it wouldn't do a year ago -- approve a tax or fee increase above 5 percent without voter approval.

In doing so, it has also gone against the wishes of the city's Charter Review Committee, which wants such a cap added to the city's governing charter.

Last July, the council adopted a resolution setting the 5 percent annual cap.

But the proposed budget for fiscal 1996 includes golf and recreation fees that range from 5-8 percent. The fiscal year begins July 1.

At a special meeting Wednesday night at City Hall, the council voted 6-1 to allow the above-the-cap fee increases.

The council gave initial approval of the budget at its regular meeting Monday, and is expected to give final approval June 19.

Councilman Melvin Gateley cast the only no vote Wednesday. He said any raise in fees above the cap violated the council resolution.

Gateley said he would have preferred to see the increases phased in over two years to keep the increase within the 5 percent cap.

Mayor Al Spradling III said the council intended the 5 percent cap to apply to sewer, water and trash fees, which affect all households.

He said the cap wasn't intended to apply to user fees for the golf course and parks and recreation programs. No one has to play golf or swim in the city pools, Spradling said.

Councilman Tom Neumeyer said he felt golf fees should be increased even more so that the city doesn't have to subsidize the operation out of general revenue. The city subsidizes the operation by about $50,000 annually.

"That is not a poor man's sport," Neumeyer said.

The council's action prompted criticism from two members of the charter committee.

Reached by telephone at their homes, both Keith Russell and Loretta Schneider said the council's action demonstrates how easily resolutions can be ignored.

"It isn't much of a binding resolution," observed Russell.

If such a cap were in the city charter, the council couldn't ignore it, Russell and Schneider said.

"We intended this to be all-inclusive, not an exception," Russell said.

Both committee members said they are disappointed the council hasn't moved to place a series of proposed charter amendments, including the 5 percent cap, on the ballot. Voter approval is needed to amend the charter.

In reviewing the budget, the council also agreed to increase sewer charges by 5 percent, effective with the first billing in August. Only Gateley opposed the increase, contending it could make it harder to pass a transportation sales tax in the Aug. 8 election.

The sewer increase was included in the budget drafted by city staff.

City staff said $114,000 would have to be cut out of the budget in order to hold the line on sewer charges.

City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said such cuts would have been difficult to make.