Task force to reconvene

Now that the Cape Girardeau City Council has officially decided that November is too soon to put a tax increase on the ballot, the Citizens Finance Task Force can go back and further comb through its recommendations.

The council voted Monday night to have the task force reconvene, acting upon a request by task force co-chairman Melvin Gateley.

Gateley said it was his wish that the task force -- a body assembled by the council to look at the city's revenue situation and recommend possible solutions -- review its revenue sources for accuracy and come up with more detailed information from the city regarding equipment replacement and possible pay adjustments.

Gateley said he felt the task force was rushed to make its recommendation at last week's meeting, the last meeting the council could have considered it for November.

The recommendation included a list of priorities and five revenue sources to fund $15.2 million in projects and $2.4 annually for unspecified equipment and personnel costs.

After the recommendation was made, the city discovered that state law prohibits the raising of cigarette taxes. The city picked up the idea of raising cigarette taxes from Missouri Municipal League documents that gave no indication of the legal restriction.

Also, the task force recommendation included imposing a use tax -- a way of taxing out-of-state purchases. But the estimation of the use tax may have been extremely low. Though use-tax figures vary widely, an MML official said the city could expect as much as $1.2 million annually, but said $1 million would be a safe bet. The city had estimated a use-tax bringing in $350,000.

Councilwoman Marcia Ritter suggested the task force also look further into the city's efficiency.

"That will be a big factor with voters," Ritter said.

Taxes raised slightly

The city council approved slight increases in some property tax rates Monday night.

The property tax for the city general fund was raised from .3128 to .3135 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The rate for the library was raised from .1664 to .1665. The rate for the health fund increased from .0586 to .0587 and the rate for special business district No. 2 dropped from .7838 to .7793.

All told, residents can expect to pay 17 cents more per year on a $100,000 house, finance director John Richbourg said.

Under current state law, the state auditor's office is responsible for calculating the allowable property rates that meet Hancock Amendment requirements for each political subdivision.