Tax helps Cape County fund some 'critical' needs

It's been just over a year since voters in Cape Girardeau County approved a half-cent sales tax to address law enforcement and public safety needs.

The tax went into effect last fall and since that time it has generated more than $5.3 million, which Sheriff Ruth Ann Dickerson says is making a significant difference in her department.

"Without it, things would be critical," she said.

So far in 2021, the tax has provided $4,783,290.04 for the county, including $740,681.31 this month, according to data released last week by Cape Girardeau County Treasurer Roger Hudson.

Counting the revenue it generated in late 2020, the tax has brought in just more than $5,258,000 to date and is on pace to provide more than $8 million in support of the county's law enforcement needs in 2021 alone.

Asked whether the additional revenue is going to salaries, facilities or equipment in her department, the sheriff replied, "All of the above."

First and foremost, Dickerson said, has been an effort to address staff salaries.

"We are beginning to get salaries back to what they should have been," she said.

"We had been running short-staffed in every division and we're still short-staffed a little, but not nearly as much as we were because we've been able to raise our salaries to be competitive in the area."

Additional staff, which Dickerson anticipates hiring at some point, will also help her department manage overtime expenses the department has had to pay because of ongoing staff shortages.

But while the sheriff said the tax has helped the department increase salaries to be competitive with other law enforcement agencies in the immediate area, they're still below the wages paid by other counties similar in size to Cape Girardeau County.

"We're (still) not nearly as competitive as other agencies throughout the state and region," Dickerson said. "Our goal was to at least be competitive in Southeast Missouri, and then start progressing to make our salaries better."

While the sheriff said salary adjustments have been her top priority, the law enforcement sales tax has also funded much needed facility and equipment needs.

"We've already started making some improvements in our facility," she said in reference to her department's offices and the Cape Girardeau County Jail. "We have a lot of areas that have had nothing done since it was built, so we're addressing some of those areas."

Some of the things being addressed are as simple as wall painting and replacing floor tiles.

"We are also expanding and rearranging some of our work spaces to give us additional room to add staff, so we've had some remodeling going on around here," she said.

"But more importantly, one of the first steps we took this year was with the opening of the new 911 central dispatch when we upgraded our control radios to the MOSWIN system."

MOSWIN is the Missouri Statewide Interoperability Network, designed to enhance and streamline interagency communications among law enforcement agencies throughout the state.

"We've been able to outfit all of our officers with MOSWIN-capable mobile and portable radios," Dickerson said. "We're in the process of programming them, and our next step will be to get the mobile radios into the cars. Then we will be able to transfer all of our communications into a fully MOSWIN-capable system."

Without the radio upgrades, Dickerson said her officers and department "couldn't even communicate with Jackson or Cape police officers" because the old system was obsolete.

"We had radio equipment that was dying that we couldn't even get parts for on eBay," she said. "And our mobile laptops in our patrol vehicles, or mobile data terminals as we call them, were way beyond their useful years. They were over 15 years old and couldn't be upgraded to accept the current software we have to use."

But thanks to the law enforcement and public safety sales tax, Dickerson said her department is able to upgrade communications and data technology to current standards.

"Hopefully we'll reach a point where our equipment will meet our needs for a while, but we will always have to address upgrades and the need for additional equipment as we add officers," Dickerson said.

None of it would have been possible, the sheriff said, had the tax issue not passed with a 57.1% affirmative vote.

"I appreciate the voters supporting us because this has been needed for a long time," she said.

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