Cape officials look at ways to meet growing city demands

During Cape Girardeau's budget presentation last year, the fire department asked for a new fire truck. The police department asked for two more patrol officers. Airport officials said they needed a security fence.

The city council said no.

Those weren't the only rejections. Each year increasingly brings more needs than money, city officials say, leaving each department head with a long list of things they say they need but are told the city cannot afford.

A sluggish economy and flat sales tax revenues have compounded the problem. City manager Michael Miller says he is aware of the situation and working to remedy it. Three weeks ago, he put in place a "revenue team" looking for ways to fatten city coffers. One consideration: putting a multi-million dollar tax package before voters.

The team is made up of city employees -- not department heads -- from each department, such as parks and recreation, planning services, public works and the police and fire departments.

Miller said the team will be looking at all city needs and trying to come up with several ways to increase the city's revenue. Options include increasing property taxes or creating special-purpose sales taxes, often a tough sell to voters.

Other ways could include implementing a use tax, raising user fees or implementing a storm-water utility fee. That gives the team a lot to consider, but the matter will no doubt be important to voters, who could pay millions to improve their city.

"We will be looking at everything," Miller said. "We want to know exactly what the situation is and what we can do. And nothing is set in stone."

Miller said that the city has reserve funds in case of emergency -- more than $4 million it saves in case of disaster, such as a tornado. That is 15 percent of the city's overall fiscal 2001 budget of $42 million.

The city has been living within its means, he said.

"There are just items we need that we don't have the money for," Miller said. "This team will be looking at ways we can increase revenue."

Stuck in the middle

Voters are split on approving a tax increase.

Cape Girardeau resident Bill Burkhimer, 84, said he understands there are city needs, but he knows taxes will hurt his pocketbook.

"It sort of puts people like me in the middle," he said. "I'm retired and on a fixed income. I know they need it, but at the same time, it hurts. A little to them is a lot to me."

Cape Girardeau resident Jim Williams, 59, said he needs to see a plan with more detail, but he wasn't intrinsically against a tax increase if one is truly needed.

"Like anybody, I wouldn't be too excited about a tremendous increase," Williams said. "But if it met a genuine need, I wouldn't be opposed to it."

Williams talked about the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and said now is not a time to abandon government.

"It's not a good time to back off, especially on public safety issues," he said.

Miller said the city team will work for several months putting together a plan, which will most likely be a combination of one or more of the above considerations, and present its recommendations to the budget team. That team, made up of department heads, will make suggestions to the city manager.

Miller then will present his recommendations to the city council, which will decide what -- if anything -- will go before voters, no sooner than late next year and possibly 2003.

Tim Gramling is the assistant public works director for Cape Girardeau and a member of the team looking into potential tax hikes. He said team members will keep voters in the forefront of their thoughts throughout the process.

"We're going to have to put together something voters will be comfortable with or we're just wasting our time," Gramling said. "That's why we're going to have to weigh more than just what the city needs -- we'll also have to consider what the voters will accept."

They have several options:

Voters might be asked to approve one or more new special-purpose sales taxes to be spent on both capital and operating expenses. Fire, storm water or parks taxes could each be implemented individually.

Each could be as much as a half cent, which would generate $4 million in new funds each year. The city is also looking at a quarter-cent hike, which would generate $2 million in new funds every year for each of those purposes. The city sales tax rate is 2 cents, which already is higher than Jackson, Perryville, Sikeston, Scott City and Poplar Bluff.

The current property tax levy -- 48 cents per $100 assessed valuation -- could be increased by as much as $1 with a simple majority vote and above $1 with two-thirds voter approval. Each 10-cent increase would produce an additional $345,000 in revenue. Cape Girardeau's property tax levy is lower than those in Jackson, Perryville, Sikeston, Scott City and Poplar Bluff.

Voters could be asked to approve a new use tax to tax purchasers of items from out-of-state vendors that do not collect sales tax. This tax will mainly address mail-order and catalog sales, and individuals are only affected if they buy more than $2,000 annually. This tax could potentially produce $300,000 to $400,000 each year.

The council could increase user fees up to 5 percent without a vote of the people. Such an across-the-board increase in user fees would generate $35,000 in general fund revenues each year. The city could ask voters to increase license and permit fees. A 5-percent increase on permit fees would raise $55,000 each year.

A storm-water utility fee would cover the cost of storm-water operations and maintenance with a user fee. Current annual costs are about $350,000 for storm-water operations and maintenance. The city estimates that the cost to the average homeowner would be $1.50 a month. Such a fee would free up money that the city has to pay to maintain storm-water utilities now.

Better service

A presentation to the Cape Girardeau City Council by the International Association of Firefighters Local 1084 brought the finance issue to light.

Charlie Brawley, a fire captain and president of the union, painted a bleak picture of the department, with needs that ranged from rescue rope to new fire stations.

He said the union suggests increasing the city's sales tax by 1/4 percent to generate $1.75 million a year to improve the department.

Brawley said he worked on the presentation with former chief Dan White, who declined to comment when reached at his new job in Bentonville, Ark.

Miller said that Brawley was representing the union and was not speaking on behalf of the department. He said that actually falls to new fire chief Michael Lackman.

While Brawley made it sound like the department is barely functional, Lackman said that is not the case.

"Right now, the job's being done," Lackman said. "The department does a fantastic job, but we want to do a better job."

The department needs new firefighting equipment, a new station and other items. But Lackman said he is especially concerned about personal safety equipment and the age of the department's fleet.

There are 33 self-contained breathing apparatuses, and he would like to see the department have one each for all 57 city firefighters. The rescue equipment is also outdated, he said, and reserve trucks should be newer and more dependable.

"If they decided to pass a tax, we could expand, improve on our service, and make the quality of life better for our firefighters," Lackman said. "It all comes down to what the community can pay for."

But Miller said the fire department is only "a piece of the puzzle," and he has to look at the whole city. Other department heads had similar complaints.

Police chief Steve Strong has been on the force 25 years and says that department -- like all city departments -- has needs.

The heating and air-conditioning unit at headquarters "has never really worked right," Strong said. So the city spends thousands a year to keep it running instead of the $200,000 to put in a new system.

The department is cramped. The city buys used cars instead of new ones. New programs are on hold and positions remain unfilled because of a lack of manpower.

"We cut back on crime-prevention programs so our guys can be on the street instead," Strong said. "We're holding off on hiring a person from within the department into the criminal division until we have more street officers. In other words, we prioritize what gets done."

Airport manager Bruce Loy said there is a need for more hangars for airplanes. The city's master plan shows three more, but he doesn't look for them to be built anytime soon.

The airport also needs more property for growth, possibly to allow more businesses like airplane builder Renaissance to locate near the airport, he said. They also have smaller needs, like a snow plow.

"I know that we get more grants than some of the other departments, but some of those grants require a financial match, which is 10 to 20 percent," Loy said. "That money isn't always there."

How it happened

City finance director John Richbourg said many factors have driven the budget increases over the last four years.

The city has desired to upgrade employee salaries to bring them in line with comparable cities. The average salary increase for city employees over the past four years is 24 percent, while the cost of living has risen 10 percent. Personnel costs have grown nearly 30 percent since 1998, as opposed to just more than 26 percent the prior four years.

For the past two years, most employees have received "step" raises -- charted increases that come with time with the city -- but nothing more.

The city also added new services and facilities, such as the Shawnee Sports Complex and Osage Community Center. Other operating expenses -- such as fuel and fleet and building maintenance -- has grown 24 percent.

Not to mention the fact that the city seems to be losing sales tax to surrounding communities and nontaxable Internet sales, Richbourg said.

Surrounding communities are building their own stores, such as the Jackson Wal-Mart, and that means fewer people are coming to Cape Girardeau to shop from those communities, Richbourg said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137