CITY OFFICIALS SEE HANCOCK AS DELAY TO PROJECTS

Cape Girardeau city officials say passage of Hancock II could force the city to seek voter approval every time it wants to charge a tax for a project.

That worries city officials. But City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said his real concern is the confusion surrounding the ballot measure.

Even city officials don't agree on how the provisions of Hancock II or Constitutional Amendment 7 would be applied.

"When you start amending the constitution, by golly, you should be clear," Fischer said.

On Nov. 8, Missouri voters will decide the fate of Hancock II. The measure would require a popular vote on most tax increases.

City officials say that that apparently includes special assessments like those levied on abutting property owners when streets are paved.

That could have an impact on projects such as Lexington Street.

If Hancock II passes, it would take effect Dec. 8. If the city hasn't issued tax bills for a newly paved section of Lexington by then, a citywide vote might be required, Fischer said.

"If we didn't have the tax bills issued, even if all the work was done, it is assumed it wouldn't be legal to issue tax bills without a vote of the entire city," Fischer said Thursday.

Mayor Al Spradling III said, "It doesn't make any sense."

Hancock II would end up delaying many construction projects, he predicted.

"It is just going to be an exercise in futility," he said. "The people generally before we put streets in have already requested it. Now to charge them, we are going to have to get a citywide vote."

Spradling also said the city would have to secure voter approval to raise user fees.

Under Hancock II, the city likely would end up putting a lengthy list of user-fee and tax issues before the voters.

Any additional elections would add to the cost of city projects, Spradling said. Those costs, in turn, would likely be passed on to the taxpayers.

"We are not going to absorb, every time we turn around, a $5,000 to $6,000 election cost."

Spradling said the measure could end up stalling economic development efforts in Cape Girardeau.

If the city wanted to run a water line to an industrial tract and issue tax bills for at least some of the cost, he said, the matter would have to be put before the voters.

"We may lose an industrial opportunity," he said.