County commission may put tax increase to vote

Cape Girardeau County commissioners will vote Tuesday to place a countywide sales tax increase on the August ballot.

The half-cent increase would raise the county sales tax to 1 cent and would generate funds for county roads, Cape Girardeau's special road district and the Cape Gir-adeau County Sheriff's De-partment, said Commissioner Larry Bock.

If voters approve the proposed sales tax increase, property owners would no longer pay a road and bridge property tax.

County commissioners estimate the sales tax increase will generate nearly $6 million per year. Road and bridge property taxes bring in more than $850,000 per year.

The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department would use its portion of the sales tax revenue -- approximately $1.5 million -- to hire additional employees and raise employee salaries. The sheriff's current budget is $3.2 million.

The commissioners will vote to place the issue on the ballot in a special meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the county administration building in Jackson. The meeting is open to the public.

The commission must meet a May 30 deadline in order to get the issue placed on the ballot. Because the commission did not put the item on the agenda for today's meeting, it decided to hold a special meeting Tuesday.

Commissioners say discussions of a sales tax began five years ago when Weldon Macke left his post as county auditor. However, discussions of a new sales tax have not been included on any agenda in 2006. Commissioners said Wednesday the topic has come up casually in meetings several times in recent months.

Missouri's open meetings law requires all public governmental bodies to give notice of the time and place of all meetings and give "its tentative agenda in a manner reasonably calculated to advise the public of the matters to be considered."

Approximately 5 miles of county roads currently are paved per year. With the additional sales tax revenue, Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones estimates 10 to 12 miles of road could be paved annually.

Bock said he's continually getting calls from county residents asking, "'When's my road going to get paved?' That's something we're always dealing with," he said.

The highway department has approximately $375,000 per year to spend on paving, nowhere near enough to pave the 300-plus miles of unpaved roads in the county. The county estimates the cost of paving 1 mile of road at $85,000.

Funding from the proposed sales tax would generate approximately $1.5 million for paving roads.

The sheriff's department has an annual turnover rate of 29 percent, said Sheriff John Jordan. "We have been a training ground for deputies in Cape Giradeau County," Jordan said. "I've seen 173 people come and go in the 11 years I've been sheriff."

The department has 64 employees, 13 of whom are patrolmen. The tax increase would enable the department to hire an additional 10 employees.

According to state guidelines, first-class counties should have one deputy for every 5,000 people. Cape Girardeau's current staffing is equivalent to a second-class county's, Jordan said.

According to figures provided by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, 60 percent of sales tax revenue is paid by Cape Girardeau County residents, Jones said. The other 40 percent is paid by people living outside the county.

jfreeze@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246