Parks board faces challenge of selling tax to voters

Now that a parks and storm-water tax appears to be headed for an April ballot, Cape Girardeau's parks and recreation advisory board faces its biggest challenge: getting one more "yes" vote than "no" votes.

The city council votes Monday on the first reading of an ordinance to put a 10-year, half-cent sales tax on the April 8 ballot. The city's current sales tax is 7.475 percent.

The parks and storm-water tax is intended to raise $25 million for the city. The money would be divided three ways: $20 million for parks; $2 million for vehicles; and $3 million for storm-water abatement.

The campaign to convince voters is in the early planning stages. Parks board member Danny Essner said the first job will be destroying misperceptions about the tax.

"We want to make sure people know this is not just one project," he said. "It's to benefit a wide cross-section of the community."

Find out more about the strategy, and how a similar Missouri city won its parks tax quest, in Friday's Southeast Missourian.