SENIOR CITIZEN TAX PASSES

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Proponents of a 5-cent property tax levy to fund services to the elderly said they were elated that Cape Girardeau County voters Tuesday approved the measure.

The tax measure passed 3,514 to 3,233, or 52-48 percent in the county's 37 precincts. The tax will generate about $220,000 annually in the county to fund health, nutrition and quality of life programs for residents 60 years of age or older.

"I'm elated," said Cecelia "Skeets" Sonderman, a volunteer at the Cape Nutrition Center who supported the tax. "It just thrills me that people in Cape County have heart enough to see that seniors do need the help and that they themselves will benefit some day."

Money generated from the tax will fund several county-wide senior citizen programs, including meals and activities at nutrition centers in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, the county's Eldercare program and home services.

In-home services provided by the county are designed to help the elderly with household chores and personal care. Transportation to medical-care facilities, grocery stores and senior centers also will be funded.

Glenn Lampley, who chaired the committee that worked on behalf of the senior citizen tax, said the money generated from the tax will help expand services that already are provided to seniors in the area.

"Right now, we're pretty well limited to the city limits in Cape Girardeau and Jackson," Lampley said. "We plan to extend services to all parts of the county.

"I think this program will help to keep senior citizens at home a lot longer especially those that wouldn't have some help otherwise."

Lampley said he thought the committee that first proposed the tax to the Cape Girardeau County Commission nearly two years ago fulfilled its promise to the commission that it would work hard to educate the public about the tax levy.

"We assured (Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep) that we would go all out to get the bill passed," he said. "A group of us got together and worked hard on it. All the people on the committee did an outstanding job.

"I'm sure it would have been tough to pass if people wouldn't have worked that hard."

Russell Faust, president of the board of directors for the Cape Girardeau Nutrition Center, also said funds from the tax will provide expanded services to area senior citizens.

"We have people from all over the county and even from Illinois who come in and eat at the center, but we can't deliver out of the city," Lampley said. "Hopefully, this will allow us to do that."

Jack Slaughter, president of the Cape County Transit board of directors, said the tax revenue will help many agencies in the area that provide services to the elderly.

"There's about 20 different agencies that are eligible for funds," Slaughter said. "Any agency that provides services for the elderly will be eligible to make application for it."

Slaughter said he was "tickled to death" that the measure passed. "Never have I known how we could get so much for so little," he added.

Rupert Fiehler, president of the Jackson Nutrition Center, echoed Slaughter's comments: "It sounds real good. I'm really tickled about it."

Fiehler said the tax will help agencies like Cape County Transit, which takes meals to shut-ins and provides transportation for elderly county residents.

"The first thing to do is expand services at each nutrition center and help the Cape County Transit, and maybe eventually we could deliver meals to the other outlying towns," he said. "A lot of work has to be done before it's all ironed out, but this was the first real big step for us."

The levy will amount to five cents on every $100 assessed in personal property.

In late January, the Cape Girardeau County Commission unanimously approved putting the proposed tax on the April ballot.

According to the proposal, seven directors will be appointed by the county commission to represent all areas of senior citizen care. The directors won't be paid, and no salaries, rent, utilities or office equipment will funded with the tax revenue.

The appointed directors will determine which programs will be funded by the tax money.

Sonderman said she hopes the directors will be able to divide the tax revenue equitably to the various programs.

"I really sincerely hope that our board of directors divide it out so that we can give all these services to the people that we said we would, particularly transportation to rural areas and meals to shut-ins," she said.