Taxes with sunset date fare better at polls

The Cape Girardeau park and recreation advisory board's quest for a half-cent tax may not win voters over unless it has a limit, according to the Missouri Municipal League.

Voters are more likely to approve a tax if it can be reconsidered in the future, said Gary Markenson, the league's executive director.

Mike Keefe, park board chairman, said he's been talking to residents and is willing to revisit the notion of recommending a limited tax.

"This is what everyone has to remember," Keefe said. "We're only an advisory board. We make recommendations to council and the council can change anything they want, anything at all."

The parks board wants to see the tax proposal to fund $31 million in parks and recreation projects on the ballot next year. The state requires such tax initiatives to provide funding for storm-water improvements as well.

The last three taxes approved by Cape Girardeau voters -- for the library expansion, the fire department and road work -- each have specific end points.

But Markenson also said some cities are seeing a trend away from time-limited taxes.

"The reason is most of these taxes need to be an ensured source of revenue, unless it's a capital improvement tax," Markenson said.

He said sales-tax initiatives are "almost 95 percent successful. Voters want these services and facilities and they're willing to pay for them, whether it's a recreation center or improved streets."

Taxes with sunset dates are usually for capital projects, said John Richbourg, Cape Girardeau's finance director.

One good example, he said, is the city's Transportation Trust Fund (TTF). Three times, votes have approved a half-cent sales tax for the TTF, all in five-year increments. The money collected is aimed at major street improvement projects. The current TTF expires Dec. 31, 2010.

Another example is the way voters agreed to direct one-quarter of the ongoing tax charged for hotel and motel rooms (4 percent) and restaurants (1 percent). The 1999 vote let the city pay $8.9 million to help fund Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus project.

Richbourg said current projections suggest the River Campus tax will end earlier than expected.

A sales tax approved by voters in 2004 for fire safety is divided. Half of the quarter-cent operating and capital tax helped pay to build the new fire station on Sprigg Street and expires September 2014. The remaining eighth-cent tax, which pays for operating expenses, does not expire.

In 1988, voters agreed to pay a quarter-cent sales tax for sewer improvements through the year 2000, but voters have since agreed to pay the tax for another 20 years. A quarter-cent sales tax for water projects, with a 20-year limit, earned voter approval in November 1996.

This year, voters agreed to nearly double library taxes for 20 years, which is paying to double the library's size.

The parks and recreation advisory board is scheduled to discuss tax proposals at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Osage Community Centre, 1625 N. Kingshighway.

pmcnichol@semissiourian.com

335-6611, extension 127