SALES-TAX VICTORY SHOWS GOOD PLANS PRODUCE RESULTS

Supporters of the half-cent sales tax in Cape Girardeau were confident the measure would pass in Tuesday's vote, but even the most confident of the backers of the plan to put street projects on a fast track were surprised by the margin of support: better than two to one.

There are some conclusions to be drawn from the passage of this special tax and other successful tax measures in Sikeston, Oran and Poplar Bluff. Among them:

-- Voters are clearly capable of assessing the merits of proposals put before them. While high taxes and the cost of government continue to be among the biggest citizen complaints across the nation, good plans still win hearty voter endorsement.

-- A unified tax proposal carries a lot of weight with voters. The half-cent sales tax plan for Cape Girardeau streets was the product of a concerted effort to get as much community input as possible and distill it into a plan worthy of voter approval. This contrasts with too many attempts to go through the motions of consensus-building and then going ahead with a preconceived plan that too often fails to match the needs expressed by the information-gathering process. In the case of the sales tax, ideas from public hearings were incorporated into the overall plan.

-- Trust is a major factor when government seeks voter ratification of a plan. In this case the city council adopted safeguards for future taxpayers. Among them was a trust fund to make sure the money collected from the sales tax wil be used for streets. And there is a priority list of clearly identified projects to make sure the streets earmarked for improvement actually are the beneficiaries of the tax. Finally, there is a five-year limit on the tax. All of these gave voters confidence that their approval came with a warranty.

All in all, voters showed they are willing to endorse projects and even new taxes when all the elements of a good plan are in place. Specific needs that are met by specific plans are easy to sell to even the most dubious voters.

Everyone involved in the sales-tax plan -- citizens, city staff members, elected officials, appointed officials, chamber of commerce committees and many others who worked hard to make this a good plan -- deserve to bask in the hearty endorsement at the polls.

There are good lessons to be learned from the successful sales tax project. Other taxing units considering major spending proposals that require voter approval would do well to look carefully at every detail of this winning plan.