City may assess school for roads

The Cape Girardeau School Board could be assessed $240,000 for road developments around the new high school once the project is complete next fall.

When superintendent Dan Steska learned this Monday night at a joint city council and school board meeting, he asked the council if the school district would be granted an abatement for the cost, but he was not given a definite yes or no answer.

The final assessments of the roads will not be completed until next year, and total figures are not likely to be known until after the 2002 election. At that time, Mayor Al Spradling III said, the council's makeup could have, at most, four new members, and the decision would be left for them to decide.

If the school board is assessed for the work being done on Silver Springs Road and the Southern Expressway, it will have the option of paying the balance plus interest over a period of 10 years.

That doesn't satisfy Steska who thinks the district shouldn't have to pay at all.

"My preference is for the district to not be responsible for any of the cost," Steska said. "We are not in the road-building business."

He said he understands there is an opposite view that thinks all property owners, regardless of type, should pay for the roads on their property, but he thinks the school is part of the city's business and the roads are just a cost of doing business.

Cost equals new teacher

Broken down over a 10-year period would mean the district would have to pay about $25,000 a year. "That's a teacher," Steska said.

If the district is going to be assessed the amount without an abatement, Steska asked that the city council give ample notice to the school board so it can plan for the cost in its budget.

School board president Bob Fox said the board wanted to use the meeting with the city to generate ideas on lighting, transportation and safety issues concerning the area surrounding the new high school while the project is still in its developmental stages.

The groups also discussed ways the current L.J. Schultz School could be used next year once the building is no longer used for education, but did not come up with anything definite.

Spradling cautioned the district not to be hasty in making decisions regarding the building to avoid future problems that could arise from a sour investment.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611 ext. 128