City IDs parks projects; details yet not finalized for park tax

Cape Girardeau city officials have not ironed out all the details about listed projects that would be funded over 15 years if voters extend a parks/stormwater tax next April.

Design plans and construction schedules have not been developed.

“There are a lot of unknowns,” Mayor Harry Rediger said Monday.

But Rediger and city manager Scott Meyer said they believe the three-eighths-cent sales tax will generate the money needed, along with issuance of bonds, to fund $27.1 million in parks projects and $10.6 million in stormwater projects.

The tax also would provide more than $1.22 million annually for parks and stormwater operations and maintenance, according to a document outlining the tax plan.

Meyer said the money for parks and stormwater operations and maintenance would be generated by one-eighth cent of the tax. The remaining revenue would finance the capital improvement projects.

The council voted at its Dec. 4 meeting to place the tax-extension measure on the April 3 ballot.

Meyer said the list of projects, which has been approved by the city council, is not prioritized as to which ones would be completed first. Those decisions have yet to be made, he said.

A few of the parks and stormwater projects would involve issuance of bonds, but most would be on a pay-as-you-go basis as tax money is generated, Meyer said.

City officials have proposed to issue bonds for three of the six most expensive parks projects and the two most expensive stormwater projects, according to a council document posted on the city’s website.

Those projects are a new aquatics complex, youth ballfield complex, and improvements to Capaha Park and Capaha baseball stadium, as well as stormwater improvements to the Arena Creek and Good Hope watersheds.

The city has proposed spending $6 million for a new aquatics complex to replace the aging Central Municipal Pool. The new facility would be built at a different location than the current pool, but the site has not been determined, Rediger said.

City officials also anticipate partnering with the Cape Girardeau School District to build an aquatic center, so the final price tag has not been calculated. The $6 million is what the council has proposed to pay toward the project, officials said.

A new youth ballfield complex, with five to eight lighted baseball and fast-pitch fields, would replace some ballfields at Arena Park that are in poor shape, have inadequate parking, limited concession facilities and lack permanent restrooms, city officials said.

Rediger said the new $4.5 million complex would be built somewhere besides Arena Park. The mayor said city officials have not decided where such a facility would be built.

About $2.5 million is projected to be spent on Capaha Park improvements, including new lighting for the baseball stadium, according to city officials.

Plans also call for spending $750,000 on a stormwater project to improve the Capaha Park Lagoon.

The mayor said some project plans may be developed more fully by January or February, when a campaign committee will begin promoting the tax measure.

Rediger said limiting the number of projects that would be funded with bonds means more projects can be funded overall and less tax money has to be spent retiring debt.

Rediger said, “If you pay as you go, you get more bang for the buck.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

---

Proposed parks/stormwater projects

Parks projects

• New aquatics complex, $6 million
• New youth ball field complex, $4.5 million
• Capaha Park improvements, $2.5 million
• Cape Splash Phase 3, $2 million
• Parks equipment/fleet, $2 million
• Arena Park improvements, $1.5 million
• Shawnee Parks sports complex renovations, $1.5 million
• Trail improvements, $1.5 million
• Parking overlays, $1 million
• Osage Centre enhancements, $800,000
• Two new South Cape Girardeau neighborhood parks, $800,000
• Shawnee Park Center addition, $650,000
• Red Star neighborhood park, $500,000
• Cape Rock Park improvements, $500,000
• Golf course enhancements, $350,000
• New restrooms $350,000
• City cemeteries improvements, $250,000
• River Heritage Museum renovation, $200,000
• Fort D Park improvements, $200,000

Stormwater projects

• Good Hope Watershed, $3.5 million
• Arena Creek Watershed, $3.08 million
• Lisa Branch Watershed, $1.79 million
• Capaha Watershed, $1.18 million
• Scivally Branch Watershed, $461,000
• C-4 (Camellia area) Ditch Watershed, $383,000
• Trail creek bank projects, $160,000
• Airport drainage project, $85,000

Source: city of Cape Girardeau