CITIZENS GROUP FORMING TO BACK ROAD SALES TAX

A change in Missouri election law has tightened rules for community campaigns, like the upcoming effort to pass a half-cent transportation sales tax increase in Cape Girardeau.

A citizen's committee is being formed to promote the sales tax increase, which will be on the Aug. 8 ballot. The five-year tax increase would raise more than $16 million for city road and bridge projects.

In the past, Cape Girardeau's Chamber of Commerce has often provided the organization and leadership for community improvement campaigns, but the change in election laws has prompted community leaders to organize a separate committee to handle this campaign.

"We want to make sure it's squeaky clean," said Larry Payne, chairman of the chamber's surface transportation committee.

David Barklage, one of the people involved in organizing the committee, said election laws have gotten stricter concerning the accountability of community campaigns.

"You really have to form a committee for an issue, not just for candidates," he said. "It makes sense whenever you are doing a campaign to have very strict accounting."

In the past, community campaigns, like a transportation sales tax, weren't scrutinized as closely as campaigns for candidates.

"It makes better sense for everybody to follow the same rules," Barklage said. "If people are willing to support a tax, they should be willing to step forward and be accountable."

Payne said business leaders are working to put together the committee to take the lead in promoting the tax increase.

"There is a group of business people working on this," he said. "We have got a tentative plan, a tentative budget, etc., but it's not all pulled together yet."

Payne anticipates the committee will be up and running about the second week of July. "That will give us about three weeks before the election," he said.

Harry Rediger, chairman of the city's planning and zoning commission, thinks a three-week campaign should be optimum.

Several details still must be settled before a campaign begins anyway, Rediger said.

Rediger is optimistic that the city council will approve a trust fund for road and bridge funds. The planning and zoning commission meets with the city council July 12.

"We're pushing hard that it needs to be a trust fund," Rediger said.

He said citizens would like proof that all the money designated for roads is actually being spent on roads.

The trust fund would include all money for roads and bridges that comes to the city, including state funds and special assessments.

The other question is how much to charge property owners when street improvements are made with the sales tax money.

Rediger said the council should vote on these issues at its July 17 meeting.

"We want every question a taxpayer can ask, answered," Rediger said, adding:

"We want the facts and figures in advance, but most campaigns need to be fairly short. A three or four week period should probably be plenty sufficient."

Leading up to the August vote, Cape Girardeau's Vision 2000 committee held public meetings to gather suggestions for the projects to be funded.

Vision 2000 and the planning and zoning commission came up with a list of 20 projects, which the chamber's board of directors voted unanimously to endorse.

On the list of projects are sidewalk repair work, pavement of the city's remaining two miles of unpaved streets and curb and gutter repair, all based on a five-year program.

Also on the five-year program is an expanded paving overlay program, which will cost about $2 million, based on expenditures of $400,000 a year.