Finding balance

When the Cape Girardeau City Council met at a retreat in March, members were told that the city budget for the coming year faced a shortfall of $600,000 to $800,000. Since then, city administrators have searched for savings, reviewed fee increases and found ways to shift costs from the general fund to other city accounts. Interim city manager Ken Eftink will submit the following proposals to the council in a work session Monday.

Budget Cuts:

* $419,000 from general savings across all departments, including leaving jobs unfilled and other reductions.

* $700,000 from building only two lanes, instead of the planned four lanes, of Lewis and Clark Parkway linking Center Junction and the new Interstate 55 interchange at LaSalle Avenue.

* $500,000 from using city workers instead of a contractor on portions of a new six mile water transmission line.

Cost shifting:

* $138,000 by allocating time of general administrative personnel to the water, sewer and trash enterprise funds.

Fee increases:

* $200,000 from increasing the septic tank waste hauler's fee for dumping at the city sewage plant from $10 a load to 7 cents per gallon.

* $295,000 from adding a 5 percent utility gross receipts tax to sewer bills and increasing the utility gross receipts tax on water service to 5 percent from 2.5 percent.

* Add 5 percent to water, sewer and trash rates, the maximum allowed under the city charter. The changes would add $2.44 monthly to the average residential bill of $48.85 and $6.87 monthly to the average commercial bill of $137.41.