SEWERS GET TOP BILLING IN CITY PLAN

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The city would spend more than $37 million on capital improvements projects over the next five fiscal years under a plan proposed by the city staff.

The $37,275,192 capital-improvements budget proposal to be considered by the City Council in a special study session March 11 is nearly $13 million more than the five-year program approved last year.

Assistant City Manager Al Stoverink said the plan proposes to nearly double expenditures for sewer improvements. About $11 million was proposed in last year's five-year plan.

The new plan calls for $20,760,248 in 19 separate projects. Last year's proposal included six sewer projects.

Stoverink said the plan reflects projects outlined in a preliminary 20-year sewer master plan that addresses problems with the city's antiquated combined storm and sanitary sewer system.

The final 20-year sewer plan will be presented to the council for consideration in March or April.

Stoverink said the "ambitious" plans for sewer projects likely will require city residents' approval of a sewer revenue-bond issue.

"It's a very significant amount of work with most of that in the older sewer system," he said.

Stoverink said the city also will implement a new program that will earmark $150,000 each year to investigate and correct sewer infiltration and inflow problems.

"It's basically a rehab program for the older sewers," he said. "That, along with some of these other relief projects, will require some form of new financing, with sewer revenue bonds a likely candidate for that.

"There may have to be hard decisions made by the community as to the funding of major sewer construction, the separation of storm and sanitary sewers and major street construction as to what their priorities are."

He said that during the past two years the city has completed several new trunk sewers in newly developed areas of the city. Stoverink said completion of the new sewers will allow the city now to focus on repair to older systems.

"We're at a point where we have caught up with the growth of the city," he said. "We've got a couple years' breathing space on the major ones."

Stoverink said the city also will start a new program to develop a list of unfunded capital improvements needs. "It's a rough list of projects that are not included in the plan things we don't have the money for that we'd like to have," he said.

Stoverink said there's been some concern that many needed projects are dismissed by the city, when actually, there simply aren't sufficient funds to do the projects. "This will be a list of what we need to do for the future versus what we have the money to do now," he said.

Stoverink said nearly seven miles of new sewers were built last year. "The biggest year prior to that was in 1986 when there was about four miles of new sewers," he said. "All other years prior (in the past 10 years) it was under two miles."

Stoverink said new street construction also has increased in the past decade and is nearing the city's high of slightly more than four miles of construction in 1980.

"After we dropped down to less than a half mile in 1981, we gradually increased to last year; we built just over three-and-a-half miles of new streets," he said.

"It's been very active the past few years, and it's going to make a big difference in the decade of the '90s in terms of having infrastructure in place for growth."

The capital improvements plan covers 56 projects, up from 35 in last year's proposal. Capital improvements are divided into four categories: transportation, environment, recreation and community development.

The transportation category contains the most projects, 31, but the environment category contains the largest amount of expenditures.

Major street projects in the five-year plan that recently were prioritized by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission include:

Completion of the Lexington arterial in 1993 at a total cost of $3.07 million. Funding for this project will come from motor fuel receipts ($1.31 million); federal grants ($825,000); special tax bills ($660,000); and state grants ($275,000).

North Sprigg Street extension to Lexington at a cost of $650,000. Funding will come from special tax bills ($207,500) and the motor fuel tax ($442,500). The street is proposed for completion in 1993 to coincide with final Lexington construction.

Perryville Road improvements at a cost of $800,000. Funding will come from special assessments ($242,500) and motor fuel tax ($557,500). The project would be completed in 1994.

Hopper Road bridge and extension to Kage Road at a cost of $1.3 million. Funding will come from motor fuel tax ($293,000); federal grants ($473,000); and special tax bills ($530,000). The project is slated for completion in 1996.

In the environment category, several projects will exceed $1 million, including:

Cape LaCroix-Walker Creek flood control, $6 million. This represents the city's share of the Corps of Engineers' $40 million project, which is designed to alleviate storm-water flooding along Cape LaCroix and Walker creeks.

Upper Cape LaCroix trunk sewers, Phase 4, $2.5 million.

Sloan Creek relief, $1.35 million.

Segregation of the College and Henderson area combined sewers, $5 million.

In the recreation category, the city staff proposes to continue spending $75,000 annually on general park development.

In the community development category, the staff proposes spending $270,000 to renovate and expand the city's Public Works Center at 219 North Kingshighway.

Public Facilities Authority bonds represent the largest funding source in the proposed plan. A total of $13 million in revenue from the bonds will be spent mostly on sewer projects. A sales tax to fund the city's share of the flood-control project comprises the second largest funding source, with $8 earmarked for the Cape LaCroix-Walker Creek project.

Other funding sources include special assessments or tax bills ($5.2 million); federal grants ($4.4 million); and motor-fuel tax receipts ($4.2 million).

Stoverink said the proposed plan "is certainly do-able."

"We're probably, once again, overly ambitious on how soon we can accomplish these projects," he said. "But I think most of our projects, we haven't been too bad getting them done on schedule."