JACKSON LICENSE BUREAU NOT A MONEY MAKER

The Jackson license bureau appears to be spinning its wheels when it comes to the bottom line.

Financially, it appears to be a losing venture for the Southeast Missouri University Foundation, which operates it. In contrast, the foundation's Cape Girardeau license fee office is proving profitable, budget figures show.

Foundation officials, however, say it's important to maintain a license bureau in Jackson, even if it's not a money maker.

The 1995 fiscal year budget projects a $1,294 loss for the Jackson fee office but a $52,362 profit for the Cape office. The net result would be a profit of just over $51,000, with the bulk of the money going to help fund Southeast Missouri State University's National Merit Scholarship program.

The foundation's board of directors recently approved the budget, which was drawn up by the group's oversight committee.

"We were not looking just at the bottom line," said Ron Hahs, who serves on the oversight committee. He said there are no plans to close the office or move it out of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce building.

The 1995 fiscal year, which begins Friday, will mark the first full fiscal year of operation of the license bureaus by the university foundation. The foundation has been running the license fee offices for the past nine months.

In a move that generated much criticism, Gov. Mel Carnahan awarded the license bureaus to the foundation, taking them away from the Cape Girardeau and Jackson chambers of commerce.

The foundation began running the two license fee offices last October, with foundation and university officials projecting an annual, combined profit of about $50,000.

Ken Dobbins, the university's executive vice president and the foundation's treasurer, said that when the 1994 fiscal year ends Thursday, the foundation likely will realize a profit of $27,000 to $28,000 for the first nine months it has operated the two bureaus.

He said the foundation not only had regular expenses, but also about $20,000 in start-up costs which affected profits.

Although final figures aren't in yet for the partial fiscal year of operation, Dobbins predicted the profit would come from the Cape Girardeau office, with the Jackson bureau winding up with a deficit.

That trend is expected to continue in the coming year. The 1995 fiscal year budget projects license fee revenues of $62,000 from the Jackson operation, but expenses of $63,294.

After salaries and benefits of $50,000, the largest single expense is the $9,000-a-year cost of renting office space in the Jackson Chamber of Commerce building. The rental cost includes utilities.

Hahs said the foundation could have moved the license bureau to less-expensive quarters in Jackson and improved the bottom line, but opted to stay and pay rent in an effort to help the chamber.

In addition to rent, the foundation also will pay $7,344 in salary and benefits to the chamber's executive secretary, who works part-time with the license bureau.

Jackson chamber officials estimated last year that losing the license bureau would mean a loss of $15,000 to $20,000 in annual revenue for their organization.

But with the rent and salary and benefits combined, the foundation will pay more than $16,000 in the coming fiscal year to the chamber and a chamber employee.

"I think when all is said and done, that situation is just about as well off as before," said Hahs. "And you could even make the argument that it may be better, in the sense that there aren't any worries or concerns of oversight that have to be done by the Jackson chamber."

The budget for the Cape office projects $147,000 in fee revenue for the foundation, and expenses of $94,638 -- including $80,000 in salaries and benefits.

The two license bureaus operate with a total of nine employees, including Norma Wildman, who manages both offices.

As to the Jackson operation running a deficit, Wildman said: "At this point, I don't think there is a lot that can be done about it. I don't know if it will show a profit."

But Hahs said members of the oversight committee believe that business will continue to grow at both license offices. "We tend to believe that as time goes by, the more convenient the operations become for people, the more business they will do."

While the 1995 fiscal year budget projects a $52,000 profit for the Cape Girardeau license bureau, the amount could be less, foundation officials said.

The budget doesn't include any cost associated with relocating the Cape office from its downtown location, said Dobbins.

The Cape office is in a small building at 220 N. Main, which is owned by the Downtown Merchants Association.

The association has provided the building free of charge to the foundation, as it previously did to the Cape Girardeau chamber.

But Boyd Gaming Corp. has purchased the property for its riverboat casino development. As a result, the license bureau will have to move out within the next two months, Dobbins said.

Wildman said it will probably be August before the office is relocated. She said she's looked at five possible sites in Cape Girardeau. The oversight committee is expected to meet in July to discuss the sites.

Both Wildman and Hahs said the goal is to move the license bureau into an existing building that would have plenty of parking and preferably a more central location.

Wildman said she still hopes to find rent-free space. "I have approached several people with that in mind."

But Hahs said that if the foundation ends up having to rent new quarters, it would result in lower profits.

If that occurs, less money would be contributed to the National Merit scholarship program, he said.

The new budget earmarks $30,000 for the scholarship program, $10,000 for the Small Business Development Center, $8,000 toward the salary of the director of the Missouri Procurement Assistance Center (another business development program) and $2,000 for the Cape Girardeau chamber's university relations committee.