SENIOR CITIZENS SAY STREET TAX NEEDED

Senior citizens typically are viewed as no votes when it comes to tax hikes.

But don't tell that to Delia Lampley. She and other senior citizens at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center said Wednesday they favor a transportation tax or are leaning in that direction.

The five-year, half-cent sales tax would raise an estimated $17 million for road and bridge projects in Cape Girardeau.

Voters will go to the polls Aug. 8 in the single-issue election.

Doug Leslie, public works director, and Sherri Finley, the city's public awareness coordinator, discussed the tax issue in a presentation to about 30 people at the center Wednesday morning.

The 20-minute presentation included slides of gravel streets and other roads that would be improved with transportation tax money.

"I am for it," Lampley said of the tax measure after viewing the presentation.

"People out of town will pay for it too," she said.

City staffers have made a number of such presentations this month and more are scheduled in advance of the election.

Some have been made to civic groups, but many have been made to the city's own employees.

"We are just laying out the facts and encouraging them to vote," said Ken Eftink, development services coordinator.

This will mark the third time the city has sought to pass a transportation tax measure; voters rejected transportation taxes in 1986 and 1987.

Lampley and several other senior citizens said they couldn't remember how they voted in the two previous elections, but they might have voted against such issues.

This time around, Lampley and others say major street improvements are needed.

The transportation tax would fund 20 projects, including the paving of gravel streets.

"The streets are terrible," said L.R. Hinck. "I like improvements," Hinck said. "I will probably vote for it."

Hinck's wife, Dickie, is leaning toward voting for the tax, but she wonders if the city would spend the money on specific projects as promised.

George Sanders said a half-cent sales tax shouldn't be much of a burden for residents.

The streets need repairs, he said. "Traffic is getting too heavy," said Sanders.

He said he would vote for the tax if he is in town on election day.

He said many people simply forget to vote.

Melvin Heise said the city needs to improve its streets and the tax offers a way to do it. "It is going to have to be done," he said.

Jo Nelle Lingo said senior citizens aren't to blame for the defeat of local tax issues.

"Voter apathy takes a lot of issues down, not age. Even the young people don't vote," said Lingo, director of the senior center.

Lingo said senior citizens who visit the center have said little about the transportation tax issue.

School tax measures typically generate more interest than city tax issues, she said.

A Jackson resident, Lingo can't vote in the election, but she said the proposed sales tax affects everyone who shops in Cape Girardeau.