COUNTY ROAD AND BRIDGE SALES TAX NEEDS AIRING: COMMISIONER'S IDEA IDEAL FOR CAMPAIGN TALK

More fortunate than most and benefiting from ample sales tax income, Cape Girardeau County looked the picture of fiscal health during the last decade or so. While still in good budgetary shape, the county sees now a settling in its accounts and a need to bolster certain funds, specifically the one used for roads and bridges. One associate commissioner, Larry Bock, favors a sales tax increase to bolster these endeavors. His two colleagues on the commission are cool to the idea. We believe Commissioner Bock has not made a case for the proposal and encourage him to develop the idea in his campaign for office this fall.

Commissioner Bock oversees the county's road and bridges and, in his view, a sales tax increase could be put to voters as a means of keeping this funding viable. Along with this, the 23-cent property tax levy that now goes for roads and bridges (generating $400,000 a year) would be eliminated.

Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep and Associate Commissioner E.C. Younghouse balk at the idea, saying the funding of these projects is logically linked to property taxes. By law, the county has not imposed its whole authority in setting a road and bridge levy, and a 12-cent increase in the property tax is a consideration.

We lean to this appraisal, but without having heard a full debate. A sales tax carries the potential to raise large amounts of money for a road and bridge fund but stands as elastic, linked indelibly to the nuances of the economy. In contrast, road and bridge needs are stable and incessant. Also, those who live within city boundaries, who pay the bulk of the sales tax, might find it hard to reconcile Mr. Bock' increase when they generally have been assessed for improvements on roads that run alongside their property. Further, the county can only go so far with a sales tax before defeating itself; if its strays too high, people who buy here will seek other markets.

Still, Commissioner Bock has opposition in his party's primary and, if successful there, in the general election, so his proposal for a sales tax increase in a voting year must be earnest. Road and bridge building and maintenance have been sources of pride for the county, and that should continue. How this good work should be funded in the future seems sure to make for excellent campaign discussion.