VOTERS FACE BOTTOM-LINE ISSUES; BOND MEASURE WOULD RAISE TAX 99 CENTS

Cape Girardeau voters have some bottom-line choices to make before they decide whether to punch the "yes" or "no" slots in the $25 million school bond issue election April 6.

The 99-cent tax increase would boost the school tax from $2.87 cents to $3.86 per $100 assessed valuation. Financially, proponents say that bite will be offset in part by the millions to be spent in the local economy and the maintenance of property values.

The school district proposes to build a new elementary school and middle school, and to close Washington and May Greene elementary schools and L.J. Schultz School. The last has only seventh-grade students.

The proposal to build a new elementary school and middle school at the Bertling and Sprigg streets intersection fits neatly into the city's long-range planning and could be a factor in future bond ratings.

The proposed schools mesh with the city's plan to extend North Sprigg Street and Lexington Avenue, and to relocate Fire Station No. 2 to a site on North Sprigg Street about halfway between Bert~ling and Lexington.

The station now is at Emerald and Middle streets.

"This kind of infrastructure where there are dollars going into facilities and capital improvements has a positive impact in general," said Assistant City Manager Al Stoverink.

Stoverink said building the schools also could strengthen the city's bond position. The city received an A rating in a Moody's review three years ago. "But one of the areas they consider a weakness is the lack of overlapping debt in the community," Stoverink said.

Overlapping debt refers to the total amount of general obligation bonds a community and its school system have outstanding.

"When a community has little or no overlapping debt, it could represent a lack of public support (for the programs)," Stoverink said.

He added that the condition of a city's school system is always a factor that major industry examines when considering whether to locate in a community.

That consideration is reiterated by Robert Hendrix, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has thrown its support behind the bond issue.

Hendrix said voters should approve the bond issue because education is so important to the city's future. "Who's going to run the city when we're gone?" he asked.

He also said Cape Girardeau's deteriorating school buildings don't give a good first impression to relocating businesses. "If they look at a building that is nice, it says the city cares about its educational system."

But Hendrix said he knew of no industries that have rejected Cape Girardeau on the basis of its schools.

He says the election is too close to call.

"I think it's a flip of the coin," Hendrix said. "I think it's going to be very close."

For Max James, a city street foreman during the 1950s and 1960s and past president of a number of Cape Girardeau senior citizens organizations, the issue is not whether Cape Girardeau needs new school buildings.

He says many seniors already are in precarious financial situations without adding to their burden. "With the shape our seniors are in some haven't been able to stay with their homes and can't support it," he said.

"A nation of this size should have some way of supporting education besides taking it off seniors."

He's not convinced that new technology equates with better education. "When I started school my computer was a slate and pencil," he said.

He faults the school district's approach to selling the bond issue to the voters. "They need to really get down and tell us how much is going to go for ABCs," James said.

James is not one to ask others how they're going to vote he doesn't even know his wife's intentions but his impression is that many seniors share his doubts about the bond issue.

"I'm afraid they are (opposed)," he said.

One who isn't is Laura "Larry" Bohnsack, who retired in 1986 after teaching music in the elementary schools and junior high school for about 30 years. She has been a middle school proponent for 10 years, and says both sixth- and eighth-graders will benefit if one is built.

"... Cape Girardeau has been dragging its feet in that area," Bohnsack said.

She said the Cape Girardeau schools once were known as the best in the area. "We're shirking our duty," Bohnsack said.

As one who taught music in an entryway at May Greene School, Bohnsack says poor learning conditions beget poor students. "It makes it much harder," she said. "...(Students) are going to live up to their environment."

Like James, she thinks the election seems to come down to the bottom line. She disagrees with those who oppose the bond issue on financial grounds.

"Cable TV comes to over $300 per year," she said. "Is that more important than the children?

"Our parents did it for us in just as tough a times," Bohnsack said. "It's so important we just can't not do it."

Real estate broker Barbara Baker says people who are moving to Cape Girardeau inevitably find out that they want to avoid locating in the Washington and May Greene districts, even though real estate agents are barred by law from providing that kind of guidance.

She also said many newcomers like the idea of having a seventh-grade-only school.

She favors the bond issue. "I can see how the town will never grow unless we invest in the schools," she said.

"... I hope they'll be better if they're going to cost so much."

Friday: Selling the school bond issue and tax levy. Why now?