Cape Council backs plans for neighborhood parks in south Cape; nixes idea of permanent tax

Cape Girardeau city officials want to create two new neighborhood parks on the community’s south side.

Those parks would be among the parks and stormwater projects that would be funded if voters extend a sales tax in April, officials said during a City Council study session Wednesday.

Council members and city staff spent more than two hours discussing potential parks and stormwater projects. There are estimated costs attached to all of those projects, except for the south-side parks.

City manager Scott Meyer said city staff still have to calculate cost estimates and project details for the south-side parks.

“We don’t know what that budget will be right now,” he told the council.

Meyer said one of the parks would be designed as a multigenerational park to serve neighborhood residents of all ages.

Authentic Voices, a south-side neighborhood group, and other residents of that area have pushed for months for creation of a new city park.

Constructing permanent restrooms in a number of city parks, including Indian Park, also is on the drawing board.

Indian Park is heavily used by minority residents, who have complained about the lack of permanent restrooms there.

At the close of the meeting, Meyer said city staff would review and fine-tune the list of projects and bring them back to the council for further discussion.

Voters approved a parks/stormwater half-cent sales tax in April 2008. The tax includes a one-eighth-cent permanent sales tax and a three-eighth-cent tax that expires after 10 years, which is next year.

Meyer had outlined a plan that would ask voters to increase the permanent sales tax by another eighth of a cent for maintenance and allocate the other quarter-cent to parks and stormwater projects for the next 15 years.

But council members decided Wednesday not to ask for a permanent tax. Rather, they said they will ask voters to extend all three-eighths of a cent for 15 years.

Council members said one-eighth of the three-eighth-cent tax still would be earmarked for parks and stormwater maintenance, but it would not a permanent tax.

The other one-fourth of the tax still would fund parks and stormwater capital projects, they said.

Meyer and council members said some city residents are opposed to asking voters for a permanent tax.

Ward 6 Councilman Danny Essner said a permanent tax component could “discourage people who may be on the fence” as to whether to support the tax issue.

But as a result of scrapping the permanent tax component, city officials said a proposal to take over maintenance of 21 stormwater detention basins in residential areas will be cut from the plan.

Meyer said the city cannot take on such added maintenance when there is no assurance there will be a levy to pay for it after 15 years.

Ward 1 Councilman Joe Uzoaru asked the staff to prioritize the various projects in terms of what projects need to be done first.

Uzoaru suggested the council should leave room for future councils to make decisions on some projects and the budgets for those items.

But Meyer said voters typically want a detailed list of projects and a commitment to fund those projects before they will support a tax issue.

Almost 100 people combined attended three public meetings last month to offer views on possible projects. In addition, there were more than 200 online submissions, according to city staff.

But Ward 4 Councilman Robbie Guard questioned if the council were listening to the public.

Guard said residents want to cut proposed improvements to the municipal golf course from the list of projects that would be funded with a tax extension.

“Our residents say we don’t need that,” he said.

City staff have suggested spending an estimated $750,000 to renovate and expand the pro shop, construct a new maintenance facility and new restrooms and improve the fairways at the Jaycee Municipal Golf Course. Ward 5 Councilman Bob Fox suggested the total cost could be higher.

But Uzoaru said the golf course loses money.

“Do we need to be in the business of operating a golf course?” Uzoaru said, noting there are a number of private courses in the area.

Essner voiced support for the project. He said the municipal course is a “blue-collar golf course” that is more affordable than private courses.

While Guard earlier talked of public opposition to the golf-course-improvement project, he said the golf course is here to stay.

“We are not getting rid of it,” he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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