Council sets Aug. 4 vote for road-tax renewal

The Cape Girardeau City Council approved at its Monday night meeting the final vote to place the question of renewing a half-cent transportation tax on the Aug. 4 ballot.

Transportation Trust Fund 4 will expire at the end of the year, and the city is asking residents to approve a fifth installment of sales tax that funds transportation projects on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Before the vote, council members and staff discussed the final TTF 5 project list and how to divide funds between the projects and maintenance.

All but one of the specific projects proposed by a city-appointed resident committee earlier this year focuses on improving existing infrastructure rather than building new. Still, staff and a few council members were vigilant in their efforts to point out a need for more focus on street and sidewalk repairs.

"We've had a lot of debate on how much revenue we need to spend on repairs," assistant city manager Molly Hood said to the council. "Last winter and this winter have been particularly hard [on the roads]."

She said the city has put much effort into patching and other temporary fixes for battered roads, but there remains a need for more long-term repairs.

Councilman Wayne Bowen has been one of the most vocal advocates on the council in taking a hard look at more funds for maintenance. He's expressed concern that delaying more-serious road repairs will lead to more costly problems in the future. He also said many comments he's received from constituents focused more on maintenance. He told the council he received an email Sunday night from one such concerned resident that said: "Two words for tomorrow night: street repair. I don't care about anything else."

At its annual retreat last month, the council agreed it was comfortable dedicating up to half the funds to maintenance.

The project list presented by Hood at the Monday night meeting showed $12.32 million dedicated to repairs and $12.7 million set aside for projects -- slightly more than 45 percent each. A little more than 9 percent was dedicated to a contingency fund for unexpected or emergency needs.

Those numbers have fluctuated since the committee first presented the projects to council, partly because of the interest in allocating more funds to maintenance.

Another component has been efforts by city staff to look at ways to stretch TTF dollars further. Hood has discussed a plan -- well-received by the council -- to alter the Lexington Avenue project from a complete overhaul between Sherwood Drive and West Cape Rock Drive to an asphalt overlay over the concrete. The move would extend the life of that street by 10 years, she said, and bring the total cost down to $900,000. That cut $700,000 from the project, but that money was reallocated to the Sloan Creek Bridge project because creek bank deterioration increased the project's costs.

The new list presented to the council Monday also reduced the Independence Street project -- which would improve the area from Gordonville Road to Caruthers Avenue -- by $500,000 and shaved another $300,000 from the Main Street project between Roberts Street and East Cape Rock Drive. Based on priorities expressed by the committee and members of the public at the meetings in February and April, they also decided to remove the $1.3 million project that would have included an overhaul and improvement of New Madrid Street from Clark Avenue to Perry Avenue.

Also reflecting recent consensus reached by the council was rededication of $3.2 million originally set aside for a TTF 4 project to go toward neighborhood street repairs. Armstrong Drive was a project that never materialized because of high right-of-way costs caused by a century farm on the planned route. As Mayor Harry Rediger pointed out, having those funds available to the city is "a real plus" heading into the next spring road repair season. Usually, the city has to wait until enough TTF funds accrue to begin projects.

One concern raised during the discussion by Councilman Mark Lanzotti was whether the city's west side was ignored in the project list. Veterans Memorial Drive, a key piece of infrastructure near the Greater Cape Girardeau Business Park, has been built in phases, with the last piece funded by TTF 4 funds. Construction of the next phase -- there are two remaining -- was not included on the TTF 5 project list. Lanzotti requested the project be included as an alternate project, an idea which Rediger supported.

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.