SEWER TAX PLAN A `PAINLESS WAY' TO FIX PROBLEM

City officials are hoping voters Tuesday will see two local ballot issues as a painless way to alleviate a long-standing problem and allay a more expensive solution in the future.

The ballot issues -- an extension of the city's quarter-cent sales tax for capital improvements and the issuance of $25 million in sewer revenue bonds -- will enable the city to separate combined sanitary and storm sewers in the city.

By extending for 20 years the capital improvements tax, which finances the city's share of the Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch flood control project and is set to expire at the end of 1999, the city can fund the sewer work before the improvements are mandated by state and federal regulators.

"Doing nothing about our combined sewers is not an alternative," said Assistant City Manager Doug Leslie. "We will be under federal regulations to do this in the not too distant future. By doing it now, we can take advantage of the state's Revolving Loan Fund program and get the interest subsidized."

Leslie said the cost of the ambitious project will only increase in time, in addition to higher financing costs.

More importantly, said City Planner Kent Bratton, the sewer improvements are imperative.

The sewer separation work will eliminate repeated wet-weather sewer surcharges and back flows into creeks and, at times, south-side homes.

The project also would improve the efficiency of the city's wastewater plant, because stormwater no longer would be flowing to the plant along with waste water.

The sales tax and sewer bonds also would pay for parallel relief sewer lines in some areas of town, construction of a trunk sewer that will enable the closure of two lift stations, and construction of new sewers in the Meadowbrook Lane area, which is without sewers now and was inundated during last summer's flood.

"Everything in here is intended to deal with problems in the existing sewer system or to provide service in non-sewered areas," said Leslie. "None of the line extensions into new development areas have been included in this. It's intended strictly to deal with problems in the heart of the community."

City officials studied other funding methods before deciding to try to extend the capital improvements sales tax and issue sewer revenue bonds, Bratton said.

"In order to finance this project with a sewer use charge, we would have had to raise sewer fees 62 percent," he said. "The average residential sewer bill would have increased from $10.38 to $16.82.

"If we were to do it through property taxes, we were looking at an 84 percent increase, which would have increased the rate from 63 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to $1.16 per $100," Bratton added. "Obviously, those weren't viable options."

Leslie said: "Extension of the quarter-cent sales tax seemed to be best option. It would not be a new tax, so it wouldn't cost the taxpayers anything extra."

The reason both measures must be on the ballot is because of the city's desire to use the state's revolving loan fund program. That program will subsidize 70 percent of the financing interest rate, but requires voter approval of the bonds.

What happens if only one issue passes?

"If only the sales tax extension passes, we can do another type of bond issuance," Leslie said. "But it would cost more to issue those bonds. If the sales tax issue fails, then we don't have a project."

Leslie said one of the advantages to funding the sewer work through a sales tax is that financing comes from everyone who buys goods and services in Cape Girardeau -- not just property owners.

Also, property owners adjoining the sewer improvements would not be charged for the work. Those property owners stand to gain not only in the use of a more efficient sewer system but also in property values, Leslie said.

"Historically, any time you make a significant infrastructure improvement, you'll see additional improvements," he said.

"Just seeing the construction going on," added Bratton, "always is an incentive for developers to look at an area."

City Engineer J. Kensey Russell said some of the combined sewers date back to 1908. The project would update the entire system, and, hopefully, would be completed by the turn of the century, Leslie said.