PERRY PUBLIC CENTER PROPOSED; VOTERS WILL DECIDE $9.5 MILLION BOND ISSUE NOV. 5

PERRYVILLE -- Voters will decide in November if they want a new multipurpose building in Perryville.

On Monday, The Perry County Commission voted unanimously to put a $9.5 million bond issue and an accompanying half-cent sales tax on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. Today at 5 p.m. was the deadline to do so.

The idea of a multipurpose center for Perry County has been discussed for years, said Craig Lindsley, Perryville city administrator. The facility finally proposed has something for everyone -- an indoor swimming pool, library, gymnasium, exercise facility and performing arts center.

Promoters hope to built it around the existing swimming pool in Perryville City Park for $8.3 million. The rest of the bond money would be used for initial operation and maintenance expenses.

Three-eighths of the half-cent sales tax would go to pay the debt service on the bonds that would be retired in 20 years. The other one-eighth cent would be used for expenses and be imposed perpetually.

After a thorough presentation, county commissioners were sold on the idea.

"Hopefully, this is something that will help the wellbeing of the county," Presiding Commissioner Karl Klaus said. "We had a cross-county committee that did a good job of looking into it and covering all the bases."

Members of the Perryville Board of Aldermen seemed receptive, too, Lindsley said.

The cross-county committee has to sell the idea to the public. The job will begin by putting color prints of an artist's renderings in various banks and public buildings. The prints show nearly every room of the proposed building.

If voters pass the issue, it will mean a unique cooperative effort between Perry County and the city of Perryville. A draft agreement between the two entities says Perryville will deed the facility site to the county for 20 years while the full sales tax is collected. City crews will handle all the maintenance.

A sales tax to support the facility will keep user fees low, Lindsley said. Any Perry County resident will be able to use the facility at the same price, whether he lives inside the city of Perryville or not.

Lindsley and the other supporters want Perry County residents to see this as the solution to an ongoing problem. Several years ago the Midwest Research Institute of Kansas City found that people don't move to Perryville because of a lack of activity. The center, Lindsley said, could change that.

The proposal also could solve some concerns of organizations in town. Perryville's two high schools, the public school and St. Vincent's, need larger gyms. The library, operated by Riverside Regional Library, is old and the roof leaks. The city pool can be operated for only a few months out of the year.

A phone survey conducted last year indicated most county residents want a multipurpose center. Out of 828 respondents, 626 said Perryville needed one.