Several tax issues on Tuesday's ballots in Cape, Scott, Bollinger counties

A public safety tax in Jackson and a parks/stormwater tax in Cape Girardeau headline several ballot issues that will be decided by voters in elections Tuesday.

A proposed, half-cent sales tax is on the ballot in Jackson. If approved, it would allow the city to move ahead with construction of a $7 million police station, rehab the existing public-safety building for fire department use, as well as hire more patrol officers, another school resource officer and a fire department training officer.

Jackson city administrator Jim Roach said much of the sales tax money would provide badly needed operational funding for the police and fire departments.

�They are our two biggest operations,� he said.

Cape Girardeau voters will decide whether to extend a three-eighth-cent sales tax for 15 years to fund parks and stormwater improvements and operations.

Supporters said it is not a new tax.

A new, indoor aquatic center tops the list of parks projects that would be funded. Other projects include replacing eight ballfields at Arena Park with a new youth ballfield complex, which could host local leagues and regional and statewide tournaments, and further improvements to Cape Splash water park.

The tax also would fund creation of two new neighborhood parks in the south part of the city, as well as replace portable toilets with permanent restrooms at various parks.

Several stormwater projects also would be funded with the tax. They include drainage improvements at Hopper Road and Kingshighway and in Arena Park. Capaha Park�s lagoon also would be dredged as part of drainage improvements.

In the Oak Ridge School District, a no-tax-increase bond issue is on the ballot. It would fund construction of two additional elementary school classrooms, enhance school safety and make other improvements.

The rural school district wants to borrow $2.6 million by extending an existing bond issue. The measure, under state law, would need slightly more than 57 percent approval to pass, school officials said.

Voters in Chaffee and Benton, Missouri, will decide whether use taxes will be charged on out-of-state purchases and internet sales.

The use tax would be levied at the same rate as the city sales tax, Chaffee and Benton officials said.

Officials in both cities said the added tax revenue would help fund municipal services.

In the financially-strapped Scott County Central School District, voters are being asked to approve a 95-cent increase in the operating levy. Revenue from the tax increase would help offset state funding reductions, continue existing programs, retain staff, maintain school facilities and meet operating expenses.

A measure on the ballot in Kelso, Missouri, would extend an existing property tax to fund fire protection. The village pays the nearby Scott City Fire Department to provide fire protection.

Voters in the Marble Hill, Missouri, area will decide whether the city fire department will become part of a tax-funded rural fire district. The measure would impose a property tax of 30 cents per $100 assessed valuation on owners of property in Marble Hill and the surrounding area.

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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