Cape may take over detention-basin maintenance

The city of Cape Girardeau may take over maintenance of 28 additional residential, stormwater detention basins, bringing the total number to 77, as part of a tax measure being considered by the city council.

The added maintenance would cost the city about $933,000 over the next 15 years, according to assistant public-works director Stan Polivick.

City officials said it also would involve added capital expenses that could total nearly half a million dollars during the first two years.

Those expenses would cover added equipment, easement documentation and initial clean up work.

Many of those stormwater basins have not been maintained by residents or developers as intended, officials said earlier this year.

That proposal is just one of many that will be discussed at three public meetings this month as part of plans to put a parks/stormwater tax issue before voters next year.

Besides the detention-basin proposal, the council and city staff have looked at funding a number of stormwater and parks capital-improvement projects.

Council members and city staff at a special meeting last month discussed possible projects that could be funded if voters renew the parks/stormwater sales tax in April.

Public meetings on the tax issue will begin at 6 p.m. Oct. 10, 12 and 18.

The first meeting will be at the 4-H Exhibit Hall in Arena Park; Shawnee Park Center will host the second meeting; and the final meeting will be at the Osage Centre.

Officials said they will make a brief presentation at each meeting before soliciting opinions and answering questions.

Mayor Harry Rediger said the council wants public input as it looks to finalize plans for the tax proposal.

Rediger said Cape Girardeau voters have been “very supportive” of tax measures in the past.

“We need them to be involved,” he said.

Public input will help the council decide which projects to include in the tax proposal and whether some projects need to be revamped, Rediger said.

“Some of them could change in scope,” he said.

Rediger said he and other council members plan to attend the meetings.

City officials have discussed nearly 20 possible parks projects and a similar number of stormwater projects.

But the tax plan won’t generate enough money to fund all the suggested projects over the next 15 years.

Projects could be funded on a pay-as-you-go basis and through issuance of bonds, according to city finance director John Richbourg.

Under that scenario, the city could spend $24.4 million on parks projects and $11.58 million on stormwater capital-improvement projects over the 15-year period, officials said.

Arena Park and Good Hope Street drainage improvements alone could cost about $6 million, deputy city manager Molly Hood said.

Arena Park drainage improvements initially were projected to cost $6 million. But at the suggestion of council members, the city scaled back that project, reducing the estimated cost to $2.5 million and freeing money for other projects, Hood said.

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 next year.

City officials propose to increase the permanent sales tax by another one-eighth-cent to provide more money for operations and maintenance of parks and stormwater services and allocate the other quarter-cent to capital-improvement projects.

The quarter-cent tax would end after 15 years under this proposal.

Rediger said the council will look to finalize the tax plan by mid- to late November.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

4-H Exhibit Hall, Arena Park, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Shawnee Park Center, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Osage Centre, Cape Girardeau, Mo.