Group files petition for a taxing district downtown

In an effort more than three years in the making, representatives of a proposed Downtown Cape Girardeau Community Improvement District on Thursday morning filed a petition with the city clerk requesting the city council form a Community Improvement District in the areas of Broadway, Water, Main and Spanish and portions of adjoining streets.

The purpose of the CID in downtown Cape Girardeau is not to make more capital improvements on top of the Broadway Corridor Project that was completed over a year ago, but to maintain and enhance those improvements, explained Marla Mills, executive director of Old Town Cape.

The two will "dovetail nicely," she said.

The district plans to provide two main services within its boundaries: keep the district clean and safe, said Jim Maurer, member of the downtown CID steering committee. Maurer said a tax -- which would have to be passed later by registered voters within the district -- would allow the CID to provide trash and litter pickup around streets and have security patrolling the district.

Funding for the safety and litter control would come from a combination of a property tax of $0.6708 and a half-cent sales tax imposed within the boundaries of the CID. If passed, the proposed property tax would replace the current property tax in the special business district in the riverfront area, should the taxes be approved, Mills said.

The district should generate about $250,000 per year until the tax sunsets after 20 years.

The boundaries drawn for an earlier version of the downtown CID included Sprigg Street, but after speaking with property owners and learning the wants and needs on Sprigg were different from those in other areas closer to downtown, the steering committee chose to take Sprigg Street out of the boundaries, Maurer and Mills explained.

Missouri state statutes require signatures from owners representing more than 50 percent of the assessed value and more than 50 percent of all property owners to form a CID, according to a news release from the steering committee.

After the Sprigg Street locations were removed from the original plans, the boundaries for the CID had to be redrawn, and the process of meeting with property owners in the proposed district began anew.

The city clerk has 90 days to verify the petition for the downtown CID after it is filed. The city council then will schedule a public hearing, followed by its decision of whether to adopt the ordinance establishing the downtown CID. The establishment of a CID is not the same as passing a tax.

The CID will be a separate political body from city government and will have its own board of directors. If a tax is passed, the board will control the money generated from the property and sales tax in the CID -- none will be paid to board members, Maurer said.

The board of directors will consist of seven members, and the petitioners proposed the names of Lindy Lysell, Southeast Missourian publisher Jon K. Rust, Dave Hutson, Sheila Sauer, Kent Zickfield, James Stapleton and Daniel Statler to be board members, according to the petition.

Once the ordinance for the CID is passed by city council, the board will call for residents of the district who are registered voters to vote on implementing the property and sales tax by mail-in ballot. The taxes must be approved by at least 50 percent of the ballots cast to pass.

The Southeast Missourian is located within the community improvement district.

ashedd@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent addresses:

Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

Water Street, Cape Girardeau, MO

Main Street, Cape Girardeau, MO

Spanish Street, Cape Girardeau, MO