CITY COUNCIL GIVES FIRST NOD TO WATER, TRASH FEE INCREASES

The Cape Girardeau City Council Monday night gave initial approval to increasing fees for water and trash service.

The council also effectively rejected a request for a special-use permit for construction of storage units on Perry Avenue.

The council approved on first reading measures increasing water fees by 2 percent and trash collection fees by 2.1 percent.

The combined fee increase would add 58 cents a month to the average residential utility bill, bringing the total to $39.01, city officials said.

The increases are included in the city's operating budget for fiscal year 1998-99, which starts July 1. The budget was also approved on first reading Monday night.

John Richbourg, city finance director, says the fee increases are needed to keep pace with increasing operating expenses and to retire debt.

With the 2 percent fee increase figured in, projected revenues for the water system total $4,390,047. Projected expenses total $4,433,328, including $1.16 million for debt-service retirement.

For solid-waste services, projected revenues will total $2,072,913 with the 2.1 percent fee increase figured in. Projected expenses will total $2,151,855.

That figure includes a projected revenue loss of $250,000. Richbourg attributed the loss to fewer haulers using Cape Girardeau's transfer station.

The budget picture should brighten in the 1999-2000 fiscal year budget, when debt-service retirement expenditures will drop by more than $150,000 in the solid-waste fund, he said.

Councilman Richard Eggimann of Ward 6 requested more specific information on operating costs for the water and solid-waste services.

Eggimann said he would like to see "some actual numbers so we'll know exactly why we should raise these things."

The city's operating budget totals a projected $23.7 million for FY1998-99. The budget includes increased wages and benefits amounting to an average of 6.4 percent for full-time city employees, including a 2 percent across-the-board pay increase for employees.

City manager Michael Miller said a team of employees and administrators is working to bring employee salaries up to competitive levels.

The council denied the special-use permit for construction of seven self-service rental storage units at 920 Perry Ave. The motion to grant the permit, made by Councilman Frank Stoffregen of Ward 1, died for lack of a second.

Mitch Shelby and Jeff Overbey had requested the permit.

Several neighbors objected to the proposed use of the property, arguing it would generate too much additional traffic, and the additional noise would be a nuisance.

The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-2 in May to recommend granting the permit.