CITY REVENUE LOW; EXPENSES STEADY

Cape Girardeau has been trying to live within its means in recent years, and that could lead to some budget restraints for the coming fiscal year.

The Cape Girardeau City Council spent three hours discussing budget concerns, possible revenue sources and future necessary expenses during the morning session of a council retreat Friday.

The all-day retreat, held at Black Forest Villages, gives council members a chance to study the budget and ask questions before any public hearings. The budget hearing will be June 4 so that the final budget can be adopted before July 1.

While the city isn't upgrading salaries, adding new personnel or buying major equipment in its upcoming budget, it isn't cutting any existing services either, said City Manager Michael Miller.

"We feel that revenues are low and hope that it passes. If it does soon then some of the problems will be overcome," Miller said.

John Richbourg, city finance director, painted a rather bleak picture for the coming budget year. Sales tax revenues have been down and expenditures continue to rise, he said.

Sales tax has had a flat growth rate, and some revenue has been lost to catalog sales and Internet use, but there isn't any real way to track that loss yet, Richbourg said.

"We can't find enough reasons for why it's going on so long," Miller said of the low sales tax growth.

The city might have to consider finding other sources for revenue, possibly in the form of a tax or higher service fees. But finding that revenue source also means planning ahead for future needs instead of doing everything piecemeal, Miller said.

There isn't enough money in the 2001-2002 budget for full-time employees to receive an across-the-board salary in-crease, although employees will continue to advance to the next step on the pay scale. That step increase amounts to a 2.65 percent salary increase.

City employees have received salary increases and step raises for three of the past four years. No new positions are being added in city departments and some grant-funded jobs are being eliminated.

"We can't pay for them by ourselves," Richbourg said.

Not all capital expenses that were originally proposed during the budgeting process were funded either. New maintenance vehicles for the public works department, a fire truck and a snow plow for the airport didn't make the cut.