Parks and Rec budget too high

Cape Girardeau's Parks and Recreation is spending $1 million more than the national median.

Do you think the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department now needs more taxes from a use tax?

If you compare Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation's budget to national averages from the National Recreation and Park Association the answer is a resounding 'no!' You can compare them at nrpa.org/uploadedFiles/PageBuilder_Proragis/Content/common_elelments/PRORAGIS-national-database-report-2013-NRPA.pdf.

Looking at the report, I compared the median bench marking ratios to Cape Girardeau's Parks and Recreation budget.

Cape's operating expenditures are $75 per capita, are $21,000 per full time employee, are $2,500 per park acre higher than the national median. Cape's tax cost for its Parks and Recreation Department is $27 per capita greater than the national median.

Cape is spending $1 million of our tax money more than the national average on Parks and Recreation!

Pruning the Cape Parks and Recreation budget so it comes into alignment with the national median, there is plenty of money for more police officers, and we certainly do not need more money for the softball park.

Why are we subsidizing a golf course, supporting a bankrupt Shawnee Community Center and pouring half a million tax dollars down a rabbit hole that is the softball park, when it was touted to attract visitor dollars which it has not done in its entire existence?

Just vote no on the use tax.

DAVID EPPS, Cape Girardeau