Thanks for support of fire sales tax

To the editor:

The residents of Cape Girardeau took advantage of a wonderful opportunity on June 8 to move forward in a positive direction. The city's quarter-cent fire sales tax was approved by a very strong margin of 80.65 percent. On behalf of the city council, I thank you for your support. Your support will allow our public safety departments to keep up with the growing pace of our community and its needs.

Taxes are something that require careful and thoughtful analysis before they are put before the voters. We made some mistakes in April 2003, and we worked extremely hard to learn from those mistakes and put forth a tax initiative that would address our most critical needs.

We extend a big thank you to all the media in Cape Girardeau that got behind this issue. In addition, we say thank you to the numerous resident groups and staff groups who worked so hard to communicate the issues and challenges to the residents of this great city.

The recently approved sales tax is greatly needed. We are a retail and medical hub, and our residents deserve to have the resources needed to maintain this position and move forward. In the coming months residents will see many improvements in our public safety departments.

Thank you again, Cape Girardeau, for your show of confidence in our city government and its leadership. We will do everything in our power to continue to earn your respect and trust.

JAY B. KNUDTSON

Mayor

Cape Girardeau