ISSUES ON BALLOT: HOTEL-MOTEL-RESTAURANT TAX

A proposal on Tuesday's ballot would expand the city's hotel-motel-restaurant tax to include a variety of businesses not covered. The tax rate itself, now 3 percent on gross restaurant receipts and 1 percent on gross hotel receipts, would not increase.

At right are changes in Cape Girardeau's Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Tax that voters will be deciding on.

-- Change the definition of restaurant to include all businesses that sell prepared, ready-to-eat food, including convenience stores, grocery stores that sell deli items and concession areas at major variety stores.

-- Clarify the definition of food to spell out that prepared foods -- such as pre-made sandwiches and fountain sodas -- will be subject to the restaurant tax, whereas grocery items will not. The new definition will help determine which items are subject to the restaurant tax and which are not.

-- Make caterers who serve more than 100 people subject to the restaurant tax, and require them to get a restaurant license and health inspection.

-- Delete the exemption for hotels, motels or bed and breakfast inns with fewer than eight rooms. The change would make all hotels, motels or bed and breakfast inns subject to the hotel-motel tax regardless of the number of rooms.

-- Make all people or entities who are exempt from paying state or federal sales tax exempt from paying the hotel-motel-restaurant tax.