CITY TO CONSIDER USE-TAX MEASURE

Cape Girardeau residents may have the chance to cast their votes in the on-again, off-again use tax.

The special tax is paid by Missouri individuals and businesses on purchases made from out-of-state vendors. Its original purpose was to recover sales tax money local entities lost when Missourians bought outside the state.

But the tax, implemented in 1992, was declared unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court in March. In May, Gov. Mel Carnahan signed into law a bill that would allow counties and cities to reinstitute the tax.

Local governments are allowed to make their use tax rate equal to their existing sales tax rate -- 1.75 cents per dollar in Cape Girardeau.

Tonight, the Cape Girardeau City Council will consider putting the measure on the Aug. 6 ballot.

Under the old method, all use-tax money collected in the state was redistributed to cities and counties based on their sales tax collection. If the local use tax passes in August, Cape Girardeau will get only the specific amount collected from individuals and businesses within the city limits.

Officials don't know how much money they would collect per year if the tax passed in August, but in a memorandum to the City Council, city Finance Director John Richbourg said the amount would be "significant."

In addition to getting the local use tax on the ballot, the council is concerned about keeping the $1.7 million Cape Girardeau collected before the Supreme Court ruling. The Missouri Department of Revenue is demanding the money be returned, along with 12 percent interest.

Mayor Al Spradling III said the city likely would join a group of other Missouri municipalities in a lawsuit against the Department of Revenue's director.

"We are not going to stand idly by," he said. "The department has gone way overboard."

Also on tonight's City Council agenda is an addition to the minimum property maintenance code.

The proposed law is designed to prevent landlords from using leases to keep tenants in substandard housing. Inspection Services Director Rick Murray said the law would help landlords, too, allowing them to quickly evict tenants whose activities make property unfit for human occupancy.

At the current time, the city can step in only if the building is dangerous. But some buildings that aren't dangerous still shouldn't be inhabited, Murray said.

"In February, there was a family with an infant child living in a home with no heat," he said. "The owner, to my knowledge, hasn't put heat in the structure to this date.

"We took the owner to court, and as part of the plea bargain, he removed the family. Before, he was holding them to the lease, telling them he would sue if they tried to break it."

Under the law, "unfit for human occupancy" refers to buildings that endanger residents' health or welfare, are unsanitary or vermin-infested or lack sanitary facilities.

Murray said he has heard from some Cape Girardeau landlords who feel the law does nothing to protect their rights, only the tenants'.

Don Hicks, who owns several pieces of rental property, said the city doesn't need the new law because people unhappy with their homes usually move.

As for the family with no heat, Hicks said the threat of a lawsuit for breaking a lease probably was a bluff.

"I try to keep my property in shape, but there are other landlords who don't," he said. "Those other landlords rent their places a lot cheaper.

"If you fix up a place, it costs money, and the tenant is going to pay higher rent. There are a lot of people out there who can't afford to live any better than what they do, and they have to have a place to stay, too."

Mayor Spradling said he expected the council to pass part of the minimum property standards law. However, the group may be divided on a section extending the distance complainants can live from dilapidated buildings.

Cape Girardeau residents currently may file official complaints about a structure if they live within 200 feet of it. On tonight's agenda is a proposal to make the distance 500 feet.