Council OKs fire tax vote for Cape on June ballot

The Cape Girardeau City Council rejected Mayor Jay Knudtson's request to completely eliminate, or sunset, a proposed fire sales tax after 10 years during Tuesday's meeting. Instead, the council unanimously agreed to ask voters to approve the tax with a more limited sunset clause at a June 8 special election.

All seven council members approved the first reading of an ordinance setting an election on the proposed quarter-cent fire sales tax in which half of the tax would automatically expire after 10 years. The other half would be a permanent tax.

City officials said the tax would raise an estimated $2 million a year for the fire department -- including money to replace an aging fire station -- and indirectly help the staff-short police department by freeing up money in the general fund to boost pay to recruit and retain officers.

Knudtson reluctantly joined his fellow council members in approving the measure with a limited sunset, saying he wanted the council to display a united front on the tax issue.

Knudtson argued that the proposed tax would have a better chance of passing if the entire tax would include a sunset provision ending the tax after 10 years. The tax could be extended with voter approval, he said.

"I know we will have people not vote for this if we don't sunset the whole thing," he said. "I feel citizens are yearning for accountability."

But council members Marcia Ritter and Hugh White refused to support a complete sunset clause. They said allowing the tax to end automatically after 10 years could leave future councils trying to make up for the loss of $1 million a year in money for operational expenses.

Debbie Smith, the wife of a police officer, held a sign up during the meeting urging the council to support a fire tax. Afterward, Smith welcomed the council's decision to put the tax issue on the ballot.

She said police officers won't stay without higher pay.

"It has to pass," she said.

To help cut costs, the council voted unanimously to suspend their salaries for a year, with the suspension ending April 1, 2005. The move will save $9,000 a year, money that city officials said would cover most of the cost of holding a June special election.

The council also approved a list of spending cuts, fund transfers and user-fee increases totaling $534,246 to help the city's financially strapped general fund, which pays most of the municipal operating costs.

Those budget moves, including eliminating the curbside spring cleanup of residential trash, will take effect in the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. As a result, this year's spring cleanup will be held, city officials said.

In other action, the council placed a six-month moratorium on after-hours clubs to prevent such businesses from opening while city officials consider how best to regulate them.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123

Counting the costs, savings

The Cape Girardeau City Council has approved a final list of planned budget cuts, fund transfers and fee increases scheduled to take effect in the new fiscal year that begins July 1. The fee increases do not require voter approval. The list of items and the net annual savings by category:

Spending cuts

Cut some part-time positions and reduce general maintenance and portable bathrooms in the parks, $10,910

Reduce hours that Old Lorimier Cemetery is open to the public, $3,654

Eliminate part-time facility maintenance positions, $4,886

Lay off some part-time staff at A.C. Brase Arena Building, $1,691

Reduce hours of operation at Capaha and Central pools, $16,222

Reduce hours of operation at Osage Community Centre, $4,173

Eliminate one Municipal Band concert and spending for supplies, $2,000

Eliminate a (non-Municipal Band) concert at the park, reduce recreation programs and some part-time recreation staffing, $9,531

Reduce part-time staff and expenses for Shawnee Park sports complex, $5,057

Reduce street maintenance, $27,900.

Move public information office to city hall, eliminating $1,080 in rent

Eliminate city newsletter and mayor's Missourian Junior newspaper column, $4,100

Reduce the budget for the Vision 2020 civic group, $500

Reduce emergency management spending on restocking supplies, $1,000

Cut airport spending, including reducing winter hours for fuel service, $6,491

Reduce Historic Preservation Commission budget, $1,000

Cost transfers

7 Transfer storm-water operations from general fund to sewer fund and move miscellaneous pickup to solid waste fund, eliminating $372,251 in general fund expenses.

Planned fee changes, net gain

Increase city engineering/planning services overhead charges, $24,000

Raise parks and recreation fees 5 percent, $20,000

Increase monthly hangar rental charges from $150 to $165, $1,800

Raise fuel charges by about a nickel a gallon, $16,000

Net savings to general fund from spending cuts, cost transfers, fee increases: $534,246

Proposed changes to sewer fund

Change to postcard billing, saving $8,400

Pay for storm-water expenses out of sewer fund rather than general fund, costing $324,251.

Net cost to sewer fund: $315,851

Proposed changes to solid waste fund

Eliminate spring cleanup, saving $52,000

Eliminate a program that allows residents at times to dump trash free of charge at the transfer station, saving $16,000

Eliminate household hazardous waste collection unless paid for with a grant, saving $25,000

Change to postcard billing, saving $8,400

Move miscellaneous limb pickup from general fund to solid waste fund, costing $65,000

Net savings to solid waste fund: $36,400

Proposed changes to water fund

Change to postcard billing, saving $8,400

Net savings: $8,400

Source: City of Cape Girardeau.