COMPETING GAMBLING FIRMS TO MAKE PITCHES

Lady Luck and Boyd Gaming representatives tonight will have their first opportunity to pitch their riverboat casino proposals to the Cape Girardeau City Council.

Last month Lady Luck Gaming proposed a $58 million development for a 100-acre tract of land on the southern edge of the downtown riverfront.

Boyd Gaming has proposed a $51 million project near the corner of Main Street and Broadway.

Now officials with both companies will have an opportunity to tout the strength of their proposals at the council's 5 p.m. study session.

Tonight's meeting will mark the start of public debate over the two proposals, which will culminate in the council's March 7 recommendation to the Missouri Gaming Commission.

Officials from both companies said last week that the city's endorsement is an important factor in the commission's determination of which gaming company gets a license in a particular area. But the officials also indicated they might pursue the commission's license approval even without the city's nod.

When the council reconvenes at 7:30 for its regular session tonight, a $434,000 supplemental budget appropriation tops the agenda.

Councilman questioned the city staff last month about the size of the appropriation, which is needed to compensate for unbudgeted city costs.

Finance Director John Richbourg said the biggest portion of the costs derive from the city's efforts to fight this summer's record Mississippi River flood.

Of the $434,000, $332,000 will come from the current year's general fund revenues. Growth in the city's sales tax revenue will cover the amount, Richbourg said last month.

"Additional appropriations are only requested to the extent that new revenues are available to cover them," he said. "Total flood-related expenditures to date are $431,800, of which we have received $316,497 reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency."

The appropriation request is for $233,840 for flood-related overtime and payments made to third parties; $15,800 for unbudgeted special city elections; and $30,000 for police salaries that were understated in the budget.

Other unplanned budget costs include $49,000 that was budgeted to be spent from last year's revenues but wasn't spent until this year, $40,700 for engineering costs associated with the landfill closure, and $22,558 for engineering costs associated with preparing bid specifications for the solid-waste contract.

Richbourg said the total appropriation request amounts to 1.25 percent of the total budget.

The council also will consider the request of the Small Business Development Center at Southeast Missouri State University for $6,000. The city has contributed to the operation of the center for the past four years. The 1993 contribution also was $6,000.

F.R. "Buz" Sutherland, director of the SBDC, said in a letter to council members the center serves nine counties in Southeast Missouri, "providing one-on-one business counseling, business training events and access to a business resource center for business persons and aspiring business persons."

The council also will hold several public hearings that include:

-- The city's submission of an application for a $760,000 community development block grant for improvements to water lines and streets in southeast Cape Girardeau, near the planned relocation of Highway 74.

-- The request of Richard and Joan Eggimann to rezone three lots in Timberlane Subdivision from single-family residential to local commercial district.

-- The request of Jeff and Paula Jackson and Bill and Brenda Bowen for a special-use permit to use a garage for commercial storage at 2710 Hawthorne Drive in a R-2, single-family residential district.

-- The request of Vernon and Carole Rhodes for a special-use permit to build a public go-cart facility at 1724 N. Kingshighway in a general commercial district.

-- The request of G. Keith Deimund for a special-use permit to build condominiums at Mount Auburn Subdivision on Beavercreek Drive in a multiple-family residential district.

-- The request of David and Cindy Patrick to relocate a home at 1809 N. Kingshighway and build an addition to a commercial building on the lot.