COUNCIL ADVANCES $27 MILLION BUDGET

The Cape Girardeau City Council Monday gave initial approval to next year's $27 million city budget despite objections of Councilman Doug Richards and Mayor Gene Rhodes.

The council will consider final approval of the budget June 17, and a special meeting on the budget will be held June 11 at City Hall.

Richards was the only council member to vote against an ordinance adopting the budget, which is an increase of $2 million over the current one. He said the proposal should be cut back, not increased, to reflect the city's sagging sales tax revenues.

"I have a real problem seeing a 7 percent growth in the budget when you're projecting revenue decline," Richards said.

"I'm concerned," he said. "We're supposed to be in a recession, and maybe we can tighten our belts a little in '92 and '93, or in '94, but I guess I'm saying maybe we could start to tighten our belts next year."

Rhodes said he also was concerned that the budget was expanding despite projections that operations will exceed revenue based on stagnant sales tax receipts.

"In business you don't spend your excess hoping you'll have a better year in the future," he said. "There's no way we can increase our income but we can get it by cutting our expenses."

Rhodes said he thought a lot of "fat" could be trimmed out of the budget.

But Assistant City Manager Al Stoverink said the city staff already cut next year's budget proposal significantly. He attributed much of the $2 million increase to capital costs of the Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch flood-control project.

"The $2 million is for critical capital projects and we have the funding for that," Stoverink said.

He said much of the increased costs to operate the city are a result of the City Council's demands for additional services.

"It's great to talk about cutting the budget," Stoverink said. "We have gone through that process. I feel very comfortable with what we're recommending as a fiscally sound budget."

In other action, without taking formal action, the council members decided they wouldn't appoint a commission to review amendment proposals to the city charter. The Cape Girardeau County League of Women Voters April 15 presented a list of several amendments to the charter, which was adopted in 1981. The league spearheaded efforts to draft the document, which established home-rule government in Cape Girardeau.

The league recommended that the council select a charter commission to review several proposals, the most notable that the city's mayor be elected by the council rather than the public at-large.

Prior to the adoption of the charter, the elected councilmen appointed the mayor from among themselves.

League members said that at-large mayoral elections lead to the perception that the mayor has more authority than councilmen. The charter states the mayor has the same authority as councilmen.

But at Monday's meeting, Councilman David Limbaugh said he didn't favor tampering with the charter. Limbaugh said that if a commission is appointed to review the entire charter it could "open a huge can of worms." He said he doesn't consider the charter "broke," and there's no need to fix it.

He also said that if a commission is appointed to review only the specific recommendations outlined by the League of Women Voters, it would be divisive.

"If you define it narrowly, it's going to be viewed as a political thing. ... It would lead to the charge that it was slanted by the council," Limbaugh said. "But, if you open it up, you'll open up a can of worms that could lead to a ward system (of election), which I think would be disastrous."

City Attorney Warren Wells said that according to the charter a commission would be appointed to review only the entire document.

Mayor Gene Rhodes said if the issue is considered at all the entire charter should be reviewed, not just a few items.

Wells said the council is free to propose specific amendments to the charter and place the proposal before the voters in a general election. He said the League of Women Voters also could start a petition drive. If sufficient signatures were gathered in support of the proposal, it also could be placed for election.

Councilman David Barklage told members of the league who attended the meeting to pursue a petition drive. He said it would be appropriate to keep the issue out of the hands of the council, which is "obviously divided."

Other amendments recommended by the league include:

The length of council terms should be shortened from four to three years. Annual elections should be held to provide staggered terms "to assure continuity" on the council. Council elections now are held on even-numbered years only.

Employees of the city should not be required to resign to become a candidate for the City Council but should be required to resign if elected to avoid a conflict of interest.

This amendment is in response to last year's City Council elections when Doug Richards, director of public safety at Southeast Missouri State University and an unpaid commissioned city police officer, was told he had to resign his commission before running for council.

Richards was elected in April 1990.