Cape readies presentation on four taxes

Several Cape Girardeau city employees are preparing lesson plans for new class.

Call it Tax Proposals 101.

City leaders are planning a education campaign to take to the Cape Girardeau voters February and March in preparation for an April 8 ballot which will ask voters to approve the institution of a stormwater utility fee and a use tax, as well as raise the sales tax by a quarter-cent and extend a 10-cent property tax.

The city will present the taxes as a package. The money will be used, in this order, for operating costs, equipment replacement, stormwater projects, a new fire station, a police station addition and a family water park.

City manager Michael Miller has put together a team of city employees and department heads to take a mountain of data -- it took a recommendation from two committees and more than a year for the city council to put a recommendation on the ballot -- and turn it into a 20-minute slide presentation. The presentation will be taken to various service clubs and organizations throughout the community.

No 'woe is me'

Mayor Jay Knudtson has been involved with the group, called the Invest 4 Cape Committee, four representing the number of tax initiatives the city hopes to be approved.

"I indicated that the theme should not be a 'woe is me' presentation," Knudtson said. "This will present what the city has done, what we're proposing to do and how we're proposing to do it."

For a number of years, city departments have been begging for better equipment and improved facilities. At the same time, the city has experienced financial turmoil in the last three years as revenue, mostly coming from sales tax, has not come in as expected. As a result, the city has spent more than it has taken in during that time, making due with cash reserves that were built up during the economic boom of the mid-1990s.

However, the council agreed with the Citizens Finance Task Force -- which will also play a key role in educating potential voters -- that the city needed a family water park to replace the deteriorating Capaha Pool and provide more economic stimulus to the city.

Neither the water park nor any other project will specifically be listed on the ballot. The four taxes are being proposed to pay for the specific, prioritized projects on the list. Should only some of the taxes pass, the city will pay for the projects and needs as it can afford them. Should none of them pass, the city will have to cut services, city leaders say.

City manager Michael Miller knows in order to get the taxes to pass, the city will have to make a convincing argument to as many people as possible.

"We have to get the word out to the citizens what is being proposed and the need and the reason for the need," he said. "And in order to do that in 15 to 20 minutes, it takes some time and a lot of work to prepare that."

Starts in February

The presentation could be put together in a couple of weeks, but the city won't start delivering its message until February, Miller said.

The city's public information officer, Tracey Glenn, said the city will have other ways of getting out information, including the city's Web site, the Channel 5 local access channel, a utility bill insert, brochures and the city's e-mail system. The inserts and brochures will be made in-house, Glenn said, and be paid for out of the public relations budget. She said the costs would not be high.

"We're just going to try to get the message out as best we can, whether it's to a group of two or three or 80," Glenn said.

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127