ANSWERING MR. DRURY'S QUESTIONS AND 'FACTS'

* In today's Southeast Missourian, Jim Drury makes claims and presents information that is misleading. Here is the newspaper's reply:

In the past couple of weeks, businessman Jim Drury has presented claims to readers of this newspaper under the guise of fact. Close scrutiny of Mr. Drury's information shows that his "facts" either raise red herrings or present incorrect information. Voters need to know that before they decide on Tuesday's ballot issue to extend the city's half-cent sales tax for street projects. Mr. Drury is asking voters to reject the extension of the tax for five more years. The Southeast Missourian is asking you to vote in favor of the issue, because it means that much-needed improvements will be made in our community, which is growing and prospering.

City officials who placed the sales-tax extension on the ballot have been publicly silent in response to Mr. Drury's claims. Other than a letter to the editor in Saturday's paper from Mayor Al Spradling III and slide presentations by the city manager about the next five years of major street projects, there has been no organized effort to refute Mr. Drury's claims, presented in paid advertising.

But Mr. Drury's claims need to be rebutted. And because the Southeast Missourian figures prominently in his assertions, we are taking this opportunity to present what we think is accurate information.

For purposes of comparison, we suggest you take this page of the newspaper and hold it up against the two pages of Mr. Drury's advertising message on Pages 8A and 9A. Let's look at his latest claims, found on Page 9A, one by one:

1. Mr. Drury says 15 of the 21 projects on the 1995-2000 street project list "are either incomplete or not started." In fact, there were only 20 projects on the five-year list, and six have been completed. Three are under construction, three have been designed and are awaiting bids, and five are being designed. The remaining three are pending: Lorimier Street from Morgan Oak to the new Highway 74 is awaiting design of the River Campus; Kage Road from Mount Auburn Road to Hopper Road has been put on hold at the request of citizens along the road; and Perryville Road from the city limits to Cypress is being held up because that stretch is not yet in the city limits.

2. Mr. Drury wonders why the cost of the Broadway widening project, originally estimated at $633,600, has "ballooned." His revised estimate is incorrect. The new estimate is $2.4 million, and the increased cost is due to storm-sewer replacements found to be needed after the street work began.

3. Mr. Drury suggests Siemers Drive on the rapidly developing west side of I-55 should have been widened by developers before being annexed by the city. Mr. Drury knows the developers. They're his brothers. What the city has gained in sales-tax revenue by annexing the area has more than offset any costs to the city in upgrading the infrastructure.

4. Mr. Drury wonders why the 2 percent "utility tax" (he probably means the franchise tax) isn't used to offset the cost of street lights instead of using revenue from the transportation sales tax. In fact, revenue from the franchise tax goes into the general fund, which pays for street lights.

5. Mr. Drury says 45 percent of the anticipated sales tax revenue is too high for "discretionary and contingency" items. He's wrong on two counts: The total estimated revenue over five years if the sales tax is extended is $20.7 million, and that includes nearly $3 million for contingencies, which is 14.4 percent. The contingency amount proposed for the next five years is less than the amount set aside in the five-year program that is just being completed. (The first five-year street plan, by the way, is costing approximately 13 percent more than anticipated overall. At the same time, revenue from the half-cent transportation sales tax is generating approximately 13 percent more revenue than anticipated.)

6. Mr. Drury suggests there should be an assessment policy for what owners of property along street projects should have to pay. That policy was adopted before the work began on the Perryville Road extension north of Lexington Avenue.

7. Mr. Drury wonders why City Hall isn't responsive to taxpayers who attended the hearing held by Vision 2000 regarding the proposed sales-tax extension and proposed projects for the next five years. He must be referring to the one hearing he attended where he urged the city to make widening of Mount Auburn Road from Independence Avenue to Kingshighway a high priority. Members of Vision 2000, the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council agreed that other projects should be done first. The Mount Auburn widening project is next on the list -- and could be done in the next five years if the sales-tax extension generates enough revenue.

8. Mr. Drury again makes a pitch for a "blue-ribbon committee." Does Mr. Drury want major decisions made by a handful of unelected businessmen? We elect city councilmen to make these important decisions. They are assisted by members of the planning commission, advice from the chamber of commerce (a business organization) and citizen input -- which has all the earmarks of a blue-ribbon group.

9. Mr. Drury says the city needs traffic counts before making major street decisions. The city has amassed a large amount of traffic-count data. But decisions ultimately are based on many factors, of which traffic counts are only a part.

10. Mr. Drury says he believes Lexington and Mount Auburn are "dangerous" streets. Except for minor backups at major intersections during morning and evening rush times, both streets have smooth traffic flows, thanks in large part to left-hand turn lanes that would have to be eliminated if those streets were striped for four lanes of traffic.

11. Mr. Drury says the city has $105 million of bond debt. He is wrong. The city's total indebtedness, including certificates of participation, is $73.3 million. Is this good business? A city with no debt would be a city in trouble. A city that is keeping up with its growing needs will always rely on debt to pay for needed major projects. The city is far from its legal debt limit.

12. Mr. Drury asks about the city's needs for the future. The city plans its needs 20 years in advance, constantly revising those plans as needed. The city, school district, chamber of commerce and university has exhaustive master plans.

13. Mr. Drury suggests that property-tax revenue is being lost due to enterprise zones. Enterprise zones are an excellent temporary incentive to attract new business and industry -- much of which has located on the west side of I-55.

14. Mr. Drury wants to know why improvements to Bloomfield Road from Siemers Drive to Stonebridge have such a high priority. One reason is the bridge there, which is insufficient for fire trucks to cross. In the event of a fire, trucks must use alternate routes, which means more time in reaching the fire.

15. Finally, Mr. Drury suggests an audit is needed before another five-year street plan is put into place. The city's books are audited every year by independent certified public accountants.

Here's something to consider: Mr. Drury's questions are reasonable questions that any uninformed citizen has a right to ask. But the answers are readily available from a variety of sources. Mr. Drury would have readers of this newspaper believe that information is being hidden from public view. This is simply not the case. The facts support the city's plan to extend the transportation sales tax and construct more major street projects. Vote yes Tuesday.