Election official expects low voter turnout for Cape tax issue

Fewer than 2,500 voters are projected to turn out in Tuesday’s election in Cape Girardeau to decide the fate of a measure to extend the city’s capital improvement sales tax.

Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark Summers, the county’s top election official, estimated Friday only 8% to 10% of the city’s 23,460 registered voters will go to the polls.

Summers said there appears to be no organized opposition to the tax. The fact it is not a new tax is expected to make it easier to pass, she added.

“That takes some of the pain off of it,” Summers said.

Polls will open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

The boards of directors of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce and Old Town Cape, a downtown revitalization organization, have endorsed the tax issue.

Cape Girardeau city officials want to spend more than $40 million over the next 15 years for a new city hall and an airport terminal and tower, as well as street repairs and upgrades to the water system.

The money would come from a quarter-cent capital improvements sales tax that has been levied for 25 years. Tuesday’s vote will determine whether the tax will be extended to 2034.

A simple majority is needed for passage.

Here’s where the money would go:

• Water projects: $18 million
• Street repairs: $7.5 million
• City hall: $6 million
• Airport projects: $4.25 million
• Bond interest: $4.7 million
• Contingency: $50,000

The sales tax would fund only part of the cost of the city hall and airport projects, with the remainder of the cost coming from other sources, city officials said.

Cape Girardeau’s city hall project involves renovating the historic Common Pleas Courthouse and Annex and constructing an addition tying the two buildings together.

When completed, it would serve as the new headquarters for city government, replacing the Independence Street building now serving as city hall.

The project would cost an estimated $12 million, with the sales tax funding half of the cost and casino revenue the other half.

Old Town Cape’s board said in a news release Friday it favors transforming the Common Pleas Courthouse and Annex into city hall.

“These buildings are owned by the city and are at risk without a feasible plan to use them,” the board said.

Proposed water, street and airport improvements will provide the infrastructure “to make Cape Girardeau a better place to live and more attractive place to do business,” the board added.

Airport improvements are estimated at $6.8 million, with $4.25 million provided by the sales tax and another $2.55 million expected to come from Federal Aviation Administration grants.

The city plans to issue bonds for the city hall and airport projects to allow the work to proceed sooner.

City manager Scott Meyer said the tax issue was placed on the August ballot because city officials did not want to compete with the Cape Girardeau School District bond issue that was on the April ballot.

The city will pay the entire cost of the August election because the tax-extension measure is the only issue on the ballot, city and election officials said.

Summers, the county clerk, estimated election costs at more than $38,000.

The city had to pay the bill in advance of the election. If the final cost is less than estimated, the city will receive a refund, Summers said.

Costs include pay for election judges, rental of polling places in privately owned buildings, programming of election equipment, publication of sample ballots and various other expenses, she said.

Voters approved the sales tax in 1994 to fund sewer projects. The sales tax would expire later this year unless voters renew it, city officials said.

While public attention has focused on the city hall and airport projects, more than half of the tax dollars — $25.5 million — would be spent on water-system projects and street repairs.

City officials touted the tax measure at the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce’s First Friday Coffee at Isle Casino Cape Girardeau.

Deputy city manager Molly Mehner said Friday residents have told city officials to “fix our streets.”

The capital improvements tax would provide $500,000 a year for street repairs.

Assuming voters extend a transportation sales tax in April, Mehner said the city is “looking at spending over $3 million a year on street repairs.”

Meyer, the city manager, told chamber members passage of the tax also would allow the city to replace all remaining 2-inch water mains, which are 75 to 100 years old, with larger pipes.

He told the crowd limiting the tax extension to a set number of years means voters won’t be giving a “blank check” to city government.

“We want to be held accountable,” he said. “That is a real sacred bond that we have with voters.”

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