FUTURE OF SALES TAX UP TO VOTERS

SIKESTON -- Today is election day, and Sikeston voters will go to the polls with one decision to make; whether to keep the quarter-cent Capital Improvement Sales Tax the city has had since 1995.

Mayor Bill Mitchell said doesn't expect a huge turnout but does expect the measure to pass. "I would say the (turnout) would be light to moderate because it is the only issue on the ballot," Mitchell said.

Mitchell has spoken to several groups in the last month in an effort to gain support for the tax, including the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce who has passed a resolution to support the tax. "That is the only group we have had an official resolution passed on," Mitchell said. "However, from the groups that I have met with, from the Rotary to the Kiwanis to the schoolteachers, there seems to be a good level of support for it." The tax was originally approved by voters in 1995 to maintain existing levels of service while expanding public safety department's presence throughout the community and building a new fire facility.