County spending

The lack of consensus that has existed among Cape Girardeau County's three commissioners since before voters approved, by a slim margin, a half-cent increase in the county's sales tax is still evident. Disagreements on administering the new revenue stream are occurring as the commissioners and other elected county officials get deep into the annual budgeting process.

At the heart of the issue is when to start paying for more road projects and more sheriff's deputies. Recipients of the extra revenue from the new sales tax -- estimated to be more than $4 million in 2007 and as much as $6 million in 2008 -- are making requests starting in January even though the county doesn't expect to receive its first sales-tax check from the new tax until March.

The new half-cent sales tax, approved in August, goes into effect Jan. 1. But sales-tax receipts must be collected by the state before the money is disbursed to local taxing entities, resulting in the three-month lag time.

The Cape Special Road District, which is separate from the Cape Girardeau County Highway Department, is one of the recipients of the new sales-tax revenue. The district agreed to eliminate its property-tax levy in exchange for replacement funding -- and then some -- from the sales tax. The district would like to be paid in monthly installments beginning in January.

Meanwhile, the sheriff's department is the intended recipient of a big chunk of the sales-tax revenue. Sheriff John Jordan has submitted a 2007 budget request that includes hiring new deputies and giving pay raises to existing deputies starting in January.

The question commissioners are wrestling with -- and one that should have been resolved before last August's vote on the sales-tax increase -- is who should get what, and when.

A case can be made for going ahead with payments to the Cape Special Road District and increases in the sheriff's payroll starting in January. The county has a reserve fund of $5 million and balances in other funds of about another $5 million which could be used for cash flow until revenue from the new sales tax reaches the county bank account.

But a case also can be made that the county should wait to spend the new revenue until it actually comes to the county. In which case, it could further be argued that everyone should wait until March.

Keep in mind that property taxes that are being eliminated as a result of the sales-tax increase are being collected right now to be spent in 2007, which means there is a considerable influx of revenue coming into the county's coffers -- a funding source that rarely gets mentioned in the current budget discussions. Revenue from those property taxes won't be available at the end of 2007 for 2008, by which time the new sales tax is expected to make up those funds plus all the extras for roads and deputies.

The apparent disagreement among the three county commissioners indicates a lack of clear direction on how revenue from the new sales tax will be used. Voters who supported the sales-tax increase did so in part because county property taxes for roads and bridges would be eliminated. But many of them also thought the county had a plan. Now it turns out the plan is still being ironed out less than a month before shoppers start paying the higher sales tax.