Some business owners receptive to proposed downtown Cape taxing district

Many downtown businesses owners say they don't mind having to pay more taxes if it means downtown will get the upgrades they say it needs.

"I'm just a small piece of the pie around here. If they use it right, I don't mind," said Andrew Johnson, owner of The Comix Strip on Broadway. "Downtown needs a lot of work. It's a little behind the times when it comes to the way the streets are laid out. We don't have hardly any decorative-type things."

The Community Improvement District Steering Committee is suggesting a new sales and property tax to fund projects in a large portion of the downtown area.

The district boundaries under consideration by the committee include Broadway from West End Boulevard to the riverfront; a section of Sprigg Street; and portions of Spanish, Morgan Oak and Good Hope streets. The area is contiguous, but its borders exclude most of the heavily residential areas of downtown, said Jim Maurer, CID steering committee chairman.

The group is meeting with property owners now to educate them about the proposed half-cent sales tax and additional property tax of 67.63 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

Joyce Kuntze is the owner of Arrangements by Joyce on Sprigg Street in Cape Girardeau. The proposed Community Improvement District would generate revenue from sales tax from downtown businesses to fund beautification, maintenance, security and other services downtown. (Kristin Eberts)

"I think the half-cent is insignificant enough that people will not realize it. I didn't realize it when I shopped in Town Plaza that I already pay a bigger tax," said Joyce Kuntze, owner of Arrangements by Joyce at 100 S. Sprigg St.

Cape Girardeau already has one CID in place for the Town Plaza shopping center. The one-cent sales tax in place there since 2007 paid for parking improvements and upgrades to the building now occupied by National Asset Recovery Services Inc.

The funds raised by a downtown CID would be spent in four categories. Half of the estimated $280,000 raised annually will go toward street upkeep. That includes picking up litter, landscaping and other improvements. Other services provided by CID funds are increased security, 20 percent; marketing and special event planning, 20 percent; and professional services for reports and audits, 10 percent.

"Because I'm collecting it here, my main concern is I would like to see those improvements made this far out from downtown," Kuntze said. "That it's just not all kept on Main and Spanish streets. If they can keep us in mind out here, then I would be all in favor of helping collect it."

Sprigg Street is a main corridor for traffic coming across the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge to access downtown and Southeast Missouri State University, Kuntze said. She'd like to see improvements to the sidewalks, such as decorative planters, near her store.

Johnson, whose comics store is across the street from the vacant Esquire Theater building, said he doesn't think paying higher sales tax would keep people from shopping downtown. In fact, a more inviting streetscape and more security in the area could attract shoppers, he said.

"It would make shoppers feel more comfortable walking down Broadway," Johnson said. He said he likes operating downtown because he is within walking distance of the university, where many of his customers are students.

He said he'd like to see downtown Cape Girardeau be more like downtown Nashville, Tenn., or Paducah, Ky.

Laurie Everett, who owns Annie Laurie's Antiques on Broadway, said the CID is a grassroots movement among the business owners who want to make the downtown area "amazing."

"Now there are faces behind these businesses, people who are getting out there and wanting to rally around making a change," said Everett, who lives above her business and also serves on the steering committee. "I'm excited about it, and I'm personally willing to pay more to see those improvements."

Everett said as she's been talking with other business owners, some have asked her why they need to pay more taxes when the city will already be receiving additional revenue from the Isle of Capri casino.

"It's not their responsibility," Everett said. "I don't want to be solely reliant on the casino to make the changes we need."

The steering committee started in January 2010, before Missouri's last gaming license became available, and Everett said the casino development didn't change the group's course.

Since Isle of Capri first began discussions with Cape Girardeau officials, the company has been committed to working closely with Old Town Cape, the chamber and city to help downtown Cape Girardeau reach its potential, said Jill Haynes, Isle's director of corporate communications.

"The CID was in its formative stages at the same time Isle was negotiating its development agreement with city officials," Haynes said. "Isle wanted to be certain that the downtown community received an investment whether or not the CID was eventually developed."

The Isle of Capri Casino site is not included in the proposed CID boundaries. Instead, under its development agreement with the city, it will pay the CID sales tax rate, up to 1 cent, into the city's Riverfront Region Economic Development Fund. That is in addition to 0.3 percent of its gross gaming revenue -- estimated to be about $250,000 -- to go into the same fund for downtown improvements.

Dave Hutson, co-owner of Hutson's Furniture on Main Street, has followed his father as an advocate for downtown improvements. Charles Hutson helped form the Special Business District that established a property tax in the riverfront area to fund capital improvements along Main, Spanish and Water streets.

"It's been a good deal for our area," Hutson said. "We took the plunge 30 years ago and we saw what it could do. The CID will just be it, multiplied, so the whole thing is getting bigger and better."

Everett said there is a misconception that the city has paid for many of the improvements funded by the Special Business District, including the streetlights, parking lots and the Boardman Pavilion in the parking lot downtown.

"If someone hits one of those lights, the city doesn't pay for that. It comes out of the Special Business District fund," Everett said. "People have this misconception that the city did all these improvements. They didn't. This was a similar type program to the CID. You'll also see those changes in other areas."

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

43 S. Main St., Cape Girardeau, MO

821 Broadway St, Cape Girardeau, MO

536 Broadway St., Cape Girardeau, MO

Dave Hutson is the owner of Hutson's Fine Furniture on Main Street in Cape Girardeau. The proposed Community Improvement District, would generate revenue from sales tax from businesses on Main Street, Broadway, and Sprigg Street to fund beautification, maintenance, security and other services in the downtown area. (Kristin Eberts)

100 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO