VOTERS OK SEWER BOND ISSUE

Cape Girardeau's $8.5 million sewer revenue bond issue passed in an election Tuesday in which fewer than 4 percent of the city's voters participated.

Voters approved the measure by a vote of 704-148, showed an unofficial count that included 28 absentee ballots. All of the absentee ballots were cast in support of the issue.

In all, 852 voters, or 3.4 percent of the city's 24,470 registered voters, cast ballots.

Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller said the voter turnout may have been one of the lowest he has seen. "It's one of the lowest, if not the lowest," he said.

Miller has been county clerk since 1978.

Typically, single ballot issues only draw between 20 percent and 30 percent of voters, Miller said. "It depends on the issue and how it affects people."

It is likely that because the issue didn't include any tax increase or tax extension, fewer people felt a need to cast a ballot, Cape Girardeau City Manager Michael Miller said. "It wasn't very controversial," he said, "so people may not have felt the need to vote. But we are sure thankful to those 704 people who did."

The bond required a simple majority for passage. It received 83 percent support.

City staff made 25 presentations explaining the need for the sewer projects and bond revenue to a variety of civic clubs and groups. Another 10 presentations were made to city employee groups prior to the election, said Tracey Glenn, public information officer for the city.

Two public meetings were held near the end of January.

Most people who heard the presentation had only positive comments, said the city manager.

But that didn't necessarily draw crowds to the polls.

Despite the lower turnout overall, "it was a strong vote for the issue," Michael Miller said.

The city needed the additional $8.5 million to complete several projects left unfinished after a 1994 vote that approved $25 million in sewer bonds.

The projects that have not yet been completed are replacing four lift stations and three miles of force mains along the Mississippi River, replacing trunk sewer lines in an expanding area of the city and adding new sewer lines in the southern part of the city.

The three projects were originally part of the $25 million bond issue, but costs for the projects escalated, in particular after floods in 1993 and 1995. The city didn't have enough revenue to continue, city officials said.

The city did complete nine of the 12 projects listed in the 1994 bond issue. Those projects primarily included separating combined storm water and sanitary sewer lines in the older portion of the city.

Asking voters to approve an additional $8.5 million also created enough revenue for the city to pay for improvements to the trickling filter, a major component of the wastewater treatment plant, and to make repairs to sanitary sewer trunk lines in the Ranchito area.

The cost of the projects is $12.45 million, which includes bond issuance costs. The city has $3.95 million remaining from the existing 1994 funds

City Finance Director John Richbourg anticipated enough revenue generated from an existing capital improvements sales tax to pay for the additional projects so the bond issue did not call for any tax increase or extension.

The existing quarter-cent capital improvements sales tax is set to expire in 2020.

The city hopes to secure a State Revolving Loan Fund bond to fund the projects. The bonds offer lower interest rates and a $5.1 million cost savings to the city.

Designs for several of the projects already have been completed, and work should start soon. Some of the projects might already be under existing contracts and "ready to go," Miller said.