Cape County will set up foundation for tax-deductible park donations

Cape Girardeau County parks soon will have a foundation in place to assist with fundraising and money dispersal, according to parks superintendent Bryan Sander, who spoke at Thursday's regular County Commission meeting in Jackson.

Sander said the county park board met with Judy Cantoni, east region manager with Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO). The organization specializes in helping organizations manage donated funds, Cantoni said by phone Thursday.

"People tend not to donate to the county as much, because we're not a 501(c)3, and they [CFO] are," Sander said at the meeting.

As donations are made to a particular park or project, Sander said, CFO would manage the money and charge a small fee: 1 percent of the balance. In exchange, CFO administers the funds, and the arrangement allows for donations to be tax deductible.

Cantoni said individual projects in the parks might have a 501(c)3 designation, but this arrangement would allow the entire county park system to collect donations and use them either as earmarked by donors, or as an operating board would see fit.

Donors could contribute to specific projects to provide ongoing operational funding.

"The project as a whole is so important for our community," Cantoni said.

"A community foundation's base function is to work in our community, not simply how to contribute to something happening today, but how we can build endowed support and commitments for the future, to sustain them long after we're gone," she added.

In other action:

• October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and commissioners signed a proclamation declaring it so. Detective Jaime Holloway with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's office said in 2017, 65 domestic-violence-related homicides were reported in Missouri, according to the State Highway Patrol. In Cape Girardeau County, 2,210 domestic-violence-related calls were reported to law enforcement in 2017, and the Safe House for Women reported 657 hotline calls that year. The Safe House sheltered 93 women and 37 children in 2017, Holloway added.

"Domestic violence is an immense problem in our state," Holloway said.

Commissioner Paul Koeper called the numbers "staggering," noting the 2,200 calls in the 365 days of 2017 meant several calls were received per day.

Holloway said fortunately, the number of calls was down from 2016, which is a good sign, but there are still too many calls.

• Sander presented a new fee schedule for the county park's holiday lights displays: $100 for displays along the main road, open to businesses, organizations or individuals; and $50 for smaller displays out in the park, which would be open only to individuals. Commissioners approved it unanimously.
• Koeper gave an update on Liberty Utilities' plan to move gas lines out of the Justice Center site, now a parking lot. Koeper said the original plan to move the lines won't work, since the building's foundation will occupy the space originally considered, so instead, the lines will be re-routed under Washington and Missouri streets, about 900 feet of boring altogether. The added cost will be about $7,600.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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