Supporters planning campaign for parks tax

On Monday, the Cape Girardeau City Council will formally consider putting the parks and storm-water tax on the April ballot.

"I think we sold the city council on it," said Cape Girardeau Parks Advisory Board member Danny Essner. "At this point in time, we need to give voters the option to voice an opinion."

The parks board is asking for a 10-year, half-cent sales tax, which is expected to pay for $20 million for parks improvements, $2 million for vehicles and $3 million for storm-water abatement.

Essner said the campaign will focus on the undecided voters. Supporters will start campaigning after the first of the year, Essner said.

"We don't want to get out too early, it loses its effectiveness," he said.

Dispelling myths about the tax is an early goal. The biggest misconceptions surround talk of an aquatic center, which he said included a leisure pool, a lazy river and "two or three water slides. It's a relatively small facility that's relatively inexpensive compared to a water park."

An aquatic center could support itself and help the local economy by drawing visitors who now use other cities' water attractions, he said.

The proposed tax would fund more than an aquatic center, he said, benefiting "a wide cross-section of the community."

"I don't think anybody wants to pay more taxes," said Linda Bruer, director of Ballwin, Mo.,'s Parks and Recreation Department and president of Missouri Park and Recreation Association. An aquatic center was the cornerstone of her city's 2001 campaign for the parks tax. Today, the facility pays for itself and nets $150,000, she said.

The sales tax in Ballwin, population 31,000, is 7.075 percent. Cape Girardeau's current sales tax is 7.475 percent.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127