City faces important sales job for tax plan

If the Cape Girardeau City Council asks voters in April to approve tax and fee increases to pay for city operations and capital improvements -- as it has indicated it plans to do -- it has less than four months to give voters enough information to make a good decision.

It has been almost a year since the city began looking at its spending and revenue situation in earnest. The message then was that the city's spending needs had exceeded revenue for a couple of years. The city relied on reserves to make ends meet. City employees went without salary increases.

All of this comes as the local economy, mirroring the financial fortunes of the state and nation, has been jolted. Sales-tax revenue hasn't kept pace with the steady and vigorous growth of almost a decade. And Cape Girardeau is heavily dependent on sales taxes for the bulk of its operating funds.

Lots of study, lots of ideas

A committee of city employees struggled with the city's needs and looked at ways to pay for them. That committee recommended a sales-tax increase and hoped the issues would be put on the ballot earlier this year.

Instead, the mayor asked a citizens task force to take a look at the city's needs and funding possibilities. That diverse group, after agreeing the city needed more money, settled on four sources of additional revenue, each requiring voter approval. The task force felt each of the four options -- sales tax, use tax, stormwater fees and the extension of a property-tax levy -- would have less cumulative impact on most residents than one big sales-tax increase.

At its meeting last week, city council members agreed. They tentatively said the four revenue plans would be put before voters in April. They are likely to take formal action Dec. 16.

In addition, the council said it wants a priority list of projects that would be funded by the various funding streams. At the top of the list discussed last week were operating expenses (including raises). Other priorities -- in descending order -- included replacing equipment, stormwater improvements, a new fire station, an addition to the police station and a family water park.

Of the capital improvements, the water park is the most expensive. It first received serious attention as a high-priority item during the citizens task force's deliberations. But it has been discussed and researched by parks and recreations officials for quite some time.

The $6.5 million water park is based on a study made two years ago and represents the best ideas from water parks that have been popular and financially successful in other Missouri cities. Supporters believe the water park has solid support among city taxpayers.

By creating a priority list, city officials are making a pledge to pay for the items that are needed the most first. Based on that list, the water park is last. This means if the money to pay for items with higher priorities isn't there, the water park will be put off until funding is secured.

The city's ability to keep its commitments to priority spending has been amply demonstrated, mainly through the Transportation Trust Fund which has resulted in $20 million of street improvements in the last seven years.

What the city will have to do to educate the public is to carefully outline the scope of its priority list that the proposed tax and fee increases would fund if approved by voters in April.

In addition, the city will have to carefully explain what happens if all the proposals don't pass. City officials have already made it clear that services will have to be cut if none of the revenue-generating ideas are approved by voters.

Careful explanations needed

As it is educating voters, the city will have to explain how the proposed stormwater-fee increase relates to the stormwater improvements that have a higher priority than the fire station, police station and water park. If the stormwater-fee plan isn't approved by voters, will the stormwater improvements still be made? (Mayor Jay Knudtson says the priority list will be followed, regardless of which revenue plans are approved.)

Questions like this will need clear answers. And those answers will, in the minds of most voters, become an obligation to which taxpayers will hold the city as additional revenue comes in and items on the priority list are tackled.

Cape Girardeau voters have demonstrated many times in recent years that they aren't against more taxes -- as long as a good case is made for how the revenue will be spent. As a result, the city has the finest school facilities to be found anywhere. And anyone who has lived in Cape Girardeau for a few years can list several city street projects that have improved the quality of life.