MARBLE HILL TO DECIDE BOND ISSUE, TAX

MARBLE HILL -- Voters Tuesday will decide whether to approve a $400,000 sewer and water bond issue and extend a half-cent sales tax.

The measures would fund sewer, water and street improvements. Improvement plans include extending sewer lines to serve Woodland School and the neighboring village of Glen Allen.

Both measures require a simple majority for passage.

Rick Jones, Marble Hill city administrator, said the sales tax measure would extend an existing tax, not add a new one.

The tax brings in about $85,000 a year to the city.

The existing tax expires in 2004. It can only be used to pay for city water and sewer improvements.

If approved by voters, Tuesday's tax measure would allow the city to use the money for water, sewer and street improvements.

"We need the extra funds now for street improvements," said Jones.

Marble Hill currently spends about $55,000 to $60,000 a year for repairs and maintenance to streets and sidewalks.

If the tax measure passes, the city likely would spend another $30,000 a year on such improvements, Jones said.

Unlike the existing sales tax, this one would be in effect permanently.

The city intends to pay off an existing $360,000 bond issue that financed water and sewer improvements.

Voters are being asked to approve a new $400,000 bond issue.

Jones said $270,000 of that bond issue would finance sewer and water system improvements. It includes upgrading Marble Hill's lift stations, constructing a new water tower and drilling a new well.

A second phase involves spending $130,000 for construction of a lift station and extension of a main sewer line to serve the Woodland school complex and the nearby town of Glen Allen. The city's sewer system currently doesn't extend to either location.

Glen Allen is just a few miles from Marble Hill. Woodland School sits about halfway between the two towns.

Marble Hill has a population of about 1,500. Glen Allen is a town of about 125 people.

Loris Lincoln serves on the Glen Allen village board. She said some of the residents have had problems with their septic tanks for several years because the soil won't absorb the waste material.

"It was getting into some of the water wells," Lincoln said. "We had to do something."

Installing sewer lines and hooking up to the Marble Hill sewer system is expected to cost more than $380,000, said Norm Lucas, grant administrator for the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission.

The commission has assisted the towns in applying to the state for funding.

Included in the total cost is the $130,000 to extend a main sewer line from Marble Hill and more than $250,000 to install sewer lines throughout Glen Allen.

Lucas said a main sewer line from Marble Hill would have to be extended 9,000 feet to serve Glen Allen.

Marble Hill applied for a $130,000 loan from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Glen Allen has applied for a Community Development block grant of more than $250,000 to fund the sewer work.

Lincoln said Glen Allen isn't big enough to put in its own sewer system. "This is the only solution that we can afford," she said.

Once hooked up, the city of Marble Hill would bill the town of Glen Allen for sewer service. The town, in turn, would bill Glen Allen residents, Jones said.

Marble Hill needs to look to future growth, Jones said.

While Marble Hill is a small town, more than 11,000 people live within a 10-mile radius, he said.

"We don't know what the future holds. But as it develops, we don't want to be behind the eight ball so to speak," said Jones.

"If you have the infrastructure, business and housing will follow," he said.

Jones said the two ballot issues have a lot of support. "The business people are behind us," he said.