Community improvement district steering committee still seeking signatures

Support for a new sales and property tax to fund downtown projects is coming slowly.

Since August, members of the community improvement district steering committee have been gathering signatures from downtown property owners to establish a new sales and property tax to enhance the area. The group has been working on the proposal since February 2010, but proponents say they're not frustrated by the delay.

"We were hoping to have it further along than we are, but realizing we have over 300 property owners, we want to make sure everybody understands what it is and what is going on and in some ways that just takes a lot of time," said Marla Mills, executive director of Old Town Cape. "We really underestimated how much time it would take to do all that."

After a low turnout from property owners who were mailed invitations to attend six informational sessions last fall about the new CID, steering committee members are meeting with property owners one by one.

The petition must have at least 150 signatures, or more than 50 percent per capita, before it may be brought before the Cape Girardeau City Council. In addition, the signatures must represent more than 50 percent of the assessed value of property in the district. All the signatures must be notarized.

The proposed district boundaries include Broadway from West End Boulevard to the riverfront; a section of Sprigg Street; and portions of Spanish, Morgan Oak and Good Hope streets. The area is contiguous, but its borders exclude most of the heavily residential areas.

The committee has nearly enough signatures to make up more than half of the district's assessed value, but just 30 percent of its property owners have signed the petition so far.

Of those property owners the steering committee has met with, only 4 percent have refused to sign, Mills said.

"Every time, it's a sit-down session where we explain what it's going for and trying to relate to them what the special business district had been for 30 years downtown and explain that's how it should work. We've got a good story, but it's getting them to sit down with us and listen to it," said Jim Maurer, CID steering committee chairman.

A special business district already exists in the riverfront area, where businesses are assessed an additional property tax generating about $20,000 annually. The existing special business district includes about 10 blocks along the riverfront. For the nearly 30 years the district has been in place, the funds have been used to maintain decorative lighting, purchase benches and planters and improve parking lots. That district would be dissolved if a new CID is formed.

According to the CID petition, businesses in the area would pay an additional half-cent sales tax. Property owners would pay additional property tax of 67.63 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

A seven-member board of directors would oversee the provision of services and allocation of funds.

The first board, outlined in the petition, would consist of Dave Hutson, Jan Kelley, Lindy Lysell, Jim Maurer, Jon Rust, Sheila Saurer and Kent Zickfield. Future members would be appointed by the city council.

How the tax revenue generated within the CID would be spent is outlined in a five-year plan included in the petition.

The funds would be spent in four categories. Half of the estimated $286,000 raised annually would go toward street upkeep. That includes picking up litter, landscaping and other improvements. Other services provided by CID funds include increased security, 20 percent; promotion and special event planning, 20 percent; and professional services for reports and audits, 10 percent.

"It's the enhancement of the city's services. It's taking it to the next level and providing additional services in cleanliness and upkeep, beautification and safety is a key, too," Maurer said.

Cape Girardeau already has one CID, established in 2007 for the Town Plaza shopping center. The one-cent sales tax has paid for parking improvements and upgrades to the building now occupied by National Asset Recovery Services Inc.

Cape Girardeau native Mark Grimm, an attorney with Gilmore & Bell, helped the downtown committee draft its CID petition and has worked with other Missouri communities forming CIDs, including Independence and Herculaneum.

There are two types of CIDs: smaller ones initiated by a developer for a specific project and larger ones initiated by a community to pay for public improvements and services, Grimm said.

"A large majority have been developer-driven to pay for costs associated with new developments where there is a very limited number of property owners," he said.

There are more than 250 CIDs throughout Missouri.

Herculaneum, for example, recently approved a CID to help pay for road improvements near the town's Interstate 55 intersection.

"It was a much smaller scale than Cape, but it involved a lot of the businesses along both sides of the interstate," Grimm said.

Grimm said Cape Girardeau's plans are similar to what's been done in Springfield and Columbia, Mo., to enhance the downtown area of those cities.

Once enough signatures are gathered, the petition must be approved by the city council before the proposed CID board will be created.

Before new taxes can be enacted, registered voters within the district must approve them.

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO