Cape road district hopes to replace bridges thanks to new sales tax

~ Officials must first decide how the Cape Special Road District will receive new funds.

Ralph Phillips has bridges on his mind.

The district engineer of the Cape Special Road District has about 20 bridges in his sights for replacement with new revenue generated by a countywide half-cent sales tax set to take effect Jan. 1.

The bridges, some with wooden substructures, have load limits ranging from 8 to 17 tons, and Phillips hopes to replace many in coming years. But first he has to negotiate when the 94-year-old road district will begin receiving the new money.

"Ideally, we would do away with the load limits," Phillips said, noting that stronger bridges mean safer crossings for school buses and more locations are available for commercial development dependent on truck traffic.

The Cape Special Road District covers the southeast third of the county, taking tax revenue from the residents within Cape Girardeau and maintaining the roads immediately outside city limits. Established in 1912, the district is governed by three elected directors and has 11 employees, including Phillips.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission plans to meet Thursday with Phillips and the directors. The meeting will examine the proposal from the road district asking for monthly payments of its share of the sales tax, beginning when the county starts receiving money from the tax.

Commissioners will bring in county officials responsible for tax collections, budgeting and tracking county funds to help establish a schedule for the payments.

The sales tax will boost the district's annual revenue by about $300,000.

The money won't sit idle, Phillips promises. "We are not in the business of saving money," he said. "If income goes up, we are not going to retain it and escalate some savings account."

Phillips already has a list of bridges he'd like to replace. The list includes bridges as narrow as 15 feet with spans as long as 103 feet.

Prior to the August vote approving the sales tax, the district didn't have much hope of finding the $120,000 to $450,000 Phillips estimates it will cost to replace each of the bridges. The district's $1.2 million annual budget has paid for maintaining the 100 miles of road in its charge, he said, with little left over.

In the current year, payroll and benefits will consume about half of the district's budget. The district has a loyal work force, including six employees with more than 20 years on the job, he said.

"You could hire people for less than we pay," said Rock Wilferth, chairman of the district board. "But if you hire people for less money, then you don't have people with years of service taking care of the people."

Of the district's roads, about 10 miles are within Cape Girardeau city limits. Over the years, the district has turned roads over to the city as it has expanded.

And while the county commission will use the new revenue available for county road work to pave more gravel roads, the district has pavement on all but about 10 miles of roads.

No decisions have been made about putting blacktop on those remaining 10 miles, Wilferth said. The district board will start setting priorities for work once a final agreement on future revenue has been reached with the county, he said.

Aside from payroll, the district's next largest expense is asphalt, which has jumped from $37.75 a ton in 2005 to $53 a ton this year.

The $300,000 in annual new revenue "is not a lot of money when you start expanding roads," Wilferth said.

The new revenue for the district will come from money the county will voluntarily give up -- a share of the district's property taxes. When the proposal for a countywide sales tax first came before the district board, the district agreed to drop its property tax after this year's collections for a share of the new revenue.

The county keeps a 20 percent share of the property taxes collected for the road district. After the sales tax takes effect, the county will provide the road district with revenue equal to the amount raised by the property tax and forego the 20 percent share it would otherwise receive.

Maintenance work consumes most of the district's labor, Phillips said. Over the past 15 years, the district has put more than 62 miles of asphalt overlays on current roads, including a repaving project on Kage Road completed this year.

Other jobs including patching potholes, cleaning out ditches and debris accumulating against bridges during storms as well as mowing along the roads two to three times a year, he said.

"The opportunity to work on a sales tax will give us increased funds and allow us to do additional work on the roads," Phillips said. "That's a fair deal for us and the citizens we serve."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126