Cape's road fund to have $200,000 left over

Dust flew from more than two miles of gravel roads inside the Cape Girardeau city limits in 1995.

Cars backed up at stoplights on a then-narrow, bumpy two-lane Broadway. Post office trucks blocked traffic on Bloomfield Road because the carriers had no shoulder to use.

And the city did not have enough money to take care of all the growing problems.

Now, seven years after voters approved a half-cent city transportation sales tax, patrons of Cape Girardeau's businesses have pumped $20 million into the city's road system. The taxes were put into a special account called the Transportation Trust Fund, and now city leaders are proud of the fact that about $200,000 will be left over when all the projects are finished and all the taxes are received.

Several major streets have been widened, the city upgraded its overlay program and scratched off every residential street from its gravel-road list.

"The roads make a big difference in how we function," said Lisa Brown, a city mail carrier. "Widening Broadway was a big one for all of us. It gets us out to a main thoroughfare much easier."

When the city proposed TTF I, it promised to complete a specific list of projects, based on the recommendations of the Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission and input from residents at public meetings. The city has modified the plan slightly but has completed most of the 23 projects.

The Fountain Street corridor that will connect the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge with downtown will be done, city officials hope, by the time the bridge opens in the fall of 2003. Bids have been submitted on the Mount Auburn widening and traffic signals project. The widening of Independence from Pacific to Sprigg has not started, but that project could be included with a more extensive project in TTF II, Planing and Zoning Commission chairman Harry Rediger said.

Though not all of the TTF I projects are finished -- despite the program starting out as a five-year plan -- past and present city government and business leaders are tickled with the results.

Not only are they happy with the visible results -- the new, wider and smoother streets -- but the financial numbers appear to be working out as well.

Currently, the city owes contractors roughly $161,000, according to numbers provided by the city. But by the time the final three projects are finished, and by the time the city finishes collecting the taxes, there should be more than $200,000 left over, which would roll over to TTF II. The second trust fund resulted in a voter-approved extension of the transportation tax in 2000.

"That's less than a percent difference," said city finance director John Richbourg of the $200,000 difference compared to the $21 million estimated costs. "I would say that's pretty successful to be that close."

Richbourg said it is difficult to plan finances for road projects in the long term because projects typically tend to take longer to complete than expected due to right-of-way purchases and other variables.

"You're at the mercy of a lot of things out of your control," Richbourg said.

To compensate for the unforeseen, the city planned for $3.3 million in contingency spending, which ended up being on the mark.

"As TTF I starts to wind down, we can say to the taxpayers we delivered and matched the expenditures," said Rediger.

'Key' to the community

The TTF I improvements have certainly had an impact on those who often travel Cape Girardeau's streets.

Lowell Peterson, the chairman of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's transportation committee, raves about the effects of TTFI.

"It got things accomplished that we would not have been able to afford otherwise," he said. "It's key to not only the chamber and businesses, but the entire community. If we continue to expand and don't think ahead and build the streets so we can move from one side of town to another, we'll have a community that doesn't work."

Prior to the trust funds, the city paid for street projects with the motor fuel tax, assessments and general revenue, city planner Kent Bratton said.

"That wasn't nearly the scope of what the sales tax generates," Bratton said. "It was a year-to-year thing. You were never sure of how much you might have available, and it was hard to plan. With the trust fund, you can make projections ahead of time."

Rediger said the commission has not yet held discussions about a TTF III, but he said the board will begin identifying potential projects in 2004 in anticipation of another tax extension.

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127