LEVEE DISTRICT FACES FINANCIAL CHALLENGES

Most residents of Cape Girardeau have no idea what happens to the runoff from torrential rains like the downpours that caused flash flooding a couple of weeks ago.

But the same floodwall that keeps a rising Mississippi River out of the downtown area also means storm water is prevented from flowing into the river.

It was probably a surprise for many residents to learn recently that there are two, not just one, levee districts in town whose purpose is to collect storm water and pump it into the river.

One of the districts is the better-known Main Street Levee District.

This is the one that also is responsible for the two downtown floodgates. Closing and opening the floodgates are the most visible activities of the levee district, whose operations are funded by a special levee tax on property owners in the flood-prone area.

The other, lesser-known district is the North Main Street Levee District.

It was built years ago primarily to protect the former Missouri Utilities Co. power plant north of the downtown area, the old shoe factory and the railroad that runs along the floodwall -- with a provision that Missouri Utilities would operate the pumping station when needed.

The North Main Street district's operations have always been funded by those entities.

Missouri Utilities later became Union Electric, which became AmerenUE. Nowadays, AmerenUE takes care of the district's operations and, with occasional manpower from the city, operates the essential pumping station.

There is no longer a shoe factory, of course, and most of the former factory's property is owned -- and for sale -- by Boyd Gaming Group, which at one time hoped to have a riverboat casino here.

AmerenUE and other property owners who benefit from the North Main Street district wonder why the city doesn't take over the district's operations. The city says that might not be financially feasible.

There is little question that the North Main Street Levee District, like its companion district to the south, provides a needed and vital service. The questions remain: Who should be responsible, and who should pay?

There appear to be four options: One is to keep the district operating just as it is. Another is to have a vote on allowing the North Main Street district to impose an operating tax on protected property owners like the Main Street district already has. A third option would be for the city to take over the pumping station as proposed by the current district partners. And a fourth option might be to combine the two levee districts into a single entity.

One option that can't be considered is to walk away from this important flood-control operation. Without the North Main Street pumping facilities, a sizable area would be affected by seasonal flooding.