TAX ABATEMENT PASSES CITY COUNCIL

About 200 new jobs in Cape Girardeau were ensured Monday with a vote to abate property taxes on a customer service center.

Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield chose Cape Girardeau last week from a field of three and plans to put a customer service center here. The selection was contingent upon getting a 100 percent city property tax abatement for 10 years.

Most businesses that locate in the Enterprise Zone, which the insurance company plans to do, get only a 50 percent abatement. State tax incentives also are available to businesses in the zone.

The Cape Girardeau City Council conducted a public hearing on the abatement issue at its regular meeting Monday evening. Industrial recruiter Mitch Robinson was the only person to speak at the hearing, and he said the tax abatement would be a positive move for the city.

The ordinance allowing the abatement made it specific to Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield. It was limited to insurance businesses with over 100 jobs providing 35 hours of employment per week per job.

Company officials want the service center open by Jan. 1. It will be located between Bluff City Beer and the U.S. Postal Service Distribution Center and have an estimated annual payroll of $3.7 million.

Job fairs to fill the 200 positions will be conducted beginning in September, and no position will pay less than $16,000 annually. The relatively high-paying, entry level jobs are unique in this region, councilmen have commented.

"Having Blue Cross come here is a wonderful situation for the city and the area," Mayor Al Spradling said. "That is a type of employer we welcome. We want the area to grow. This is a means to that end."