PROPOSED SCOTT CITY TAX WOULD FUND REPAIR OF LEAST 40 STREETS

SCOTT CITY -- A proposed half-cent increase in the sales tax rate, if approved by voters Aug. 6, will fund the resurfacing of more than 20 streets in Scott City, and at least 20 more will be sealed and patched.

City officials have compiled a list of 140 city streets, their condition and what work is needed to repair them. Some of the streets have been declared in good condition.

But the list specifies 22 that will be completely resurfaced, 17 that will be sealed, and many more that will be patched and fixed if the tax increase is approved, city officials said.

"Virtually every street needs something," said Scott City Mayor Shirley Young.

The mayor said the list, compiled by City Council member John Smith and Public Works Director Harold Uelsmann, will likely be updated if the street tax passes. She said the ones on the list now will be priorities if the tax is approved.

Uelsmann said if the tax passes, work will likely begin in the summer of 1992. He said the pace at which the streets are repaired will depend on the rate that money is generated from the tax.

"We can do quite a bit of work in a year, but it depends on the money that's generated," he said. "We have to generate some before we can do anything."

The measure would raise the city's sales tax rate to 6.225 percent and would generate about $100,000 per year. The tax is a transportation tax that would fund only contract labor costs to pave and resurface existing city streets.

The tax was first put before voters in April, but failed by a margin of 33 votes. It passed in only one of the city's three wards, Ward One. Voter turnout was low, at only 22 percent.

Young said the council is resubmitting the tax before voters this year because street work can't begin until after the city starts collecting the tax. She said a delay in trying to pass the tax again could mean work wouldn't begin on streets until 1993.

The proposed tax would be in effect five years. Uelsmann said if the tax increase fails, the city streets will be "in trouble.

"We're wanting to do this before it becomes a real problem, and we need to have an ongoing program so that we can fix our streets," he said. "We just can't generate the money to do that now."

The city budget allocates only $20,000 annually to pay for street work.

Uelsmann said the tax will mean "everyone is paying their fair share for the streets."

Streets designated by the city to be resurfaced are Ash, Cherry, East and West Cherry, Charles from Main to Broadway, Dale, East Eighth, a section of Fifth, First Street East from Mar-Elm to Hickory, Gail, Grove, Lincoln Ave., South Lincoln, Linden Ave., Maple from Fourth to Fifth Streets, Mar-Elm from Second to Third Streets and Mississippi from Madison to State.

Other streets to be resurfaced are Olive from Tenth to Twelfth Streets, Sixth Street, Sixth Street East from Chestnut to Cherry, Sycamore to Fifth Street, Twelfth Street East and Wall.

Streets to be sealed are Beech, Bell Ave., Broadway, Cape, Charles, Colony Park Drive, Druetta, East Eleventh, Emma, Fifth, Fifth Street East, Fourth, Hopper, Madison, Perkins, Third Street East, Warner, Washington and Western.