SEMO PUSHES FOR RIVER CAMPUS FUNDING

Funding for Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus wasn't included last week in Gov. Mel Carnahan's proposed budget. The news was disappointing, but it certainly doesn't spell gloom and doom for the project. Sometimes an undertaking this big takes more time to come to fruition than originally hoped.

The university wants to transform the former St. Vincent's Seminary into a visual and performing arts center. An increase in the city's hotel tax and an extension of the city's restaurant tax -- to fund part of the local share of the project's cost -- earned approval from Cape Girardeau voters last November. A city bond issue, which would have paid off with revenue from the hotel and restaurant taxes, received 53 percent approval but fell short of the supermajority it needed for passage.

Since then, the university has discovered the project would likely qualify for bonds issued through the Missouri Health and Educational Facilities Authority. But the university has opted to wait on seeking the bonds until state funding is a certainty.

This is a good move, considering the pledge made to voters before they went to the polls last November to vote on the financing package for the River Campus. Voters were told that the hotel-restaurant tax funds wouldn't be spent -- nor would be bonds be issued -- unless the project received adequate funding from the Legislature.

The total cost of the River Campus is expected to be $35.6 million. Of that, the university plans to raise $7.8 million. The city tax-and-bond package would have raised another $10 million, leaving half the total cost -- $17.8 million -- to come from the Legislature. There is a good likelihood that state bonds will replace city bonds in the overall mix, but the state appropriation still needs to be obtained before moving ahead on spending any of the hotel-restaurant tax funds on River Campus bonds.

Gov. Mel Carnahan has publicly expressed support for preserving the historic seminary site. He said last week that state dollars simply were not available to pay for the project this year. Part of the problem stems from a recalculation of Missouri's personal income levels by a federal agency, which is a key part of determining whether refunds will be necessary under the Hancock Amendment kicks. Because of the recalculation, the state is facing more refunds to state taxpayers than anticipated, which means less overall revenue available for spending programs.

The Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education placed the River Campus project 12th on its list of priorities. The top eight project were included for funding in the governor's recommendations. The coordinating board noted that the River Campus request was for the full $35.6 million and that there were no local matching funds. That misinformation certainly needs to be corrected. In the first place, only half of the River Campus funding is being sought from the state, and there is a considerable local commitment in the form of voter approval of the hotel and restaurant taxes to be used for the project. In addition, the university is on track to raise its portion of the project's cost.

It is possible the River Campus could still earn favor from the Legislature as it moves through its budgeting process. Such was the case in 1997, when the governor didn't include the university's polytechnic institute in his budget, but the Legislature later added it. A veto eventually nixed the funding. To his credit, the governor came back in January 1998 and included the polytechnic institute funding in his budget plan.

The key now is to get the right message to legislators. If they agree with the benefits of the River Campus project, then work can begin to get the state bonds and move ahead. There is something of a time squeeze, because if the state funding isn't in hand by 2001, the city will, under the pre-election agreement, be free to use the extra hotel-restaurant tax revenue to pay off existing bond debt.