CITY'S PLAN TO ASK VOTERS FOR STREET-TAX EXTENSION IS ENHANCED BY A SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM

The Cape Girardeau City Council has taken the first step in putting an extension of the Transportation Trust Fund sales tax on the Aug. 8 primary election ballot. The council is certain to put the matter to a vote of city residents with final readings of an ordinance this month.

The city has benefited immensely from the half-cent sales tax since it was instituted in 1995. It runs out at the end of this year, and voters will be asked to decide whether to continue the tax through 2005.

The tax would raise approximately $20 million over the next five years, the amount the city estimates would be needed to carry out a list of street projects that should be predetermined before the vote. The city has received from its Planning and Zoning Commission a recommended list of projects and must decide which ones would be accomplished if the tax were to be extended.

The fact that the city promised to accomplish certain projects with money from the five-year tax -- and did so -- should weigh heavily on the minds of voters in August. The city intends to do the same this time around so that voters know where the money would be spent. And the projects can't be done until the city actually has the money in hand.

The transportation sales tax is an excellent means of assuring that needed transportation projects are carried out.