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The public sees little wear and tear on the outside, but Cape Girardeau city officials say funding woes have left Cape Girardeau police shorthanded and city workers without pay raises seven months after voters rejected four tax and fee issues aimed at boosting the budget.

City officials hope the economy picks up, boosting sales tax revenue. There's already been some improvement -- two consecutive months of growing sales tax checks from the state.

But even a good economy won't provide the city with enough revenue, city finance director John Richbourg said, what with ever-increasing health insurance costs and rising maintenance and equipment needs.

Roof repairs currently are little more than patch jobs on some city buildings, and the city has had to cope with inadequate heating and cooling systems at the police station and the main fire station.

City officials are reluctant to call it a financial crisis, but they admit something has to be done.

"We are in no better financial situation today than prior to the election," Mayor Jay Knudtson said. However, city officials aren't ready yet to propose a new tax package or even offer a timetable for one.

Voters in April rejected a quarter-cent sales tax earmarked for fire department operations, a local-use tax, a storm-water fee and replacement of a 10-cent property tax. City officials had estimated approval of the taxes would have cost taxpayers less than $100 a year on average.

A proposed water park would have been funded had all the tax measures passed -- the last thing on the list of projects -- but city officials today aren't talking about a water park. They're focused on more basic city services.

While the mayor admits residents won't approve a tax increase "unless they feel there is a crisis," city officials insist the sky isn't falling, at least not yet. But they say the budget has been balanced on the backs of city employees who aren't getting pay raises, and the financial problems can't be ignored.

Knudtson wants to look at securing private donations to help the city stretch its budget. Private fund-raising efforts like those of the Cape Girardeau parks and recreation foundation might help supplement operations in the police and fire departments, he said.

Meanwhile, the city is faced with losing police officers to higher-paying departments. The city increasingly is finding it hard to recruit police officers and firefighters.

City manager Doug Leslie said city government has at least 10 positions that are currently vacant, including administrative posts such as fire chief and human resources director.

Unfilled uniforms

Nowhere is the funding problem more acute than in the police department, which is short six officers out of an authorized staff of 74 officers. Police chief Steve Strong said his department is losing them to other departments that pay more.

"I have lost officers to communities a third of the size of Cape Girardeau that can offer more money, better benefits and less work," Strong said.

"Our officers are overworked and underpaid," he said.

The starting salary for a Cape Girardeau police officer is $24,044, or $7,100 less than the starting pay for officers in the Perryville Police Department, Strong said.

The city of Dexter, Mo., starts officers at $24,675 and has better family insurance benefits, he said. Police officers in Cape Girardeau pay $4,764 more a year for family insurance than their counterparts in Dexter, Strong said.

The lack of competitive salaries and benefits has made it harder to recruit new officers, Strong said.

The result is a department that is stretched thin, leaving less time for officers to run radar and write speeding tickets as well as for detectives to follow up on criminal investigations.

With limited manpower, it takes police longer to respond to some less threatening emergencies, Strong said.

Strong said he increasingly spends time trying to secure private donations for needed equipment.

Strong said his department also depends on federal grants. But now there is less federal funding for some equipment grants. In other cases, the city doesn't have the 25 percent matching funds to apply for Community Oriented Policing -- or COPs -- grants, which could be used to hire additional officers.

Slow fire truck

Interim fire chief Mark Hasheider said Cape Girardeau city government is "headed toward a crisis" without added revenue for basic operations. April's defeat of a fire tax has kept the city's oldest fire station in use.

The station at 429 Emerald St. is home to a 30-year-old pumper truck whose top speed is 10 to 15 mph and that has a leaky water tank. Firefighters routinely pump water into the tank to make up for the water that leaks out.

The 52-year-old station is the oldest of the city's four fire stations and barely is big enough to house an 11-year-old fire truck. Today's fire trucks, which are larger, won't fit in either of the two bays.

The city owns vacant ground on North Sprigg Street north of Blanchard Elementary School, where officials want to build a new fire station to replace the one on Emerald Street. But the project remains on hold because the city doesn't have the money.

Firefighters say salaries are lagging behind those of other fire departments. Hasheider said his department now must compete for firefighters with higher-paying departments in St. Louis and Jefferson counties.

The city has purchased a new street sweeper and a new fire truck, but city officials said they had to rely on lease-purchase funding because the city doesn't have the money to buy the needed equipment outright.

The city operates on a $45 million budget, of which over $34 million is earmarked for general operations and the other $10.4 million for capital projects in the current fiscal year.

The city's main operating fund is the general fund, where 69 percent of the total, or $11.7 million, is spent on personnel costs, said Richbourg, the city's finance director. The city has 365 full-time employees.

In addition to the need for improved facilities for police and fire, city officials had sought a fee to construct storm sewers to address drainage problems. Despite the April vote, the city is proceeding with sewer improvements in the Ranchito Drive neighborhood thanks in large part to a state grant.

But state budget problems in Missouri have put an end to the grant program and left Cape Girardeau with no way to finance any more drainage improvement projects, Leslie said.

Even though he isn't talking about putting tax measures on the ballot, Knudtson said any future tax measure should include a sunset clause that would terminate the tax by a specified date. The April ballot measures had no such provision.

In the meantime, city officials are hoping for a solid Christmas season to boost city revenue, even if it isn't a total solution. Sales tax checks for January through November last year totaled $6.77 million. For the same period this year, the city has received $6.82 million or $50,000 more, city financial reports show.

Sales tax checks reflect sales made as much as two months earlier. As a result, the tax money generated from Christmas sales will show up in next year's sales tax checks.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123