The Southeast Missourian asked people whether surplus money in the city's tourism fund, generated by the motel and restaurant tax, should be used to pay ahead of schedule the debt incurred to construct the Show Me Center, or if the money should be used to fund new projects deemed worthy by the city.

David Curry: "I think we should pay off the debt on the Show Me Center early if we are able to do it. Why keep us in debt longer if we can pay it off sooner? If we want other projects, we should set our goals toward those things, and fund them in other ways."

Pat Wall: "The primary purpose for the tax was to pay for the Show Me Center, and I think any extra money that comes in from the tax should pay for that. People have too many taxes. If we paid it off sooner and the tax was removed, there would be one less tax to pay."

Mary Clubb: "I think we should pay off the bills that we have as soon as possible. The reason for the tax was to build the Show Me Center, so any extra should go to pay for that. I'm not against the tax, but we could do other things with the money after we pay the bill we owe."

Dan Phelps: "I think we should use this money to retire the debt early. Then we could either eliminate or reduce the tax. Later on it would be fine to put it to other things like parks and recreation to build baseball fields and soccer complexes."

Barbara Neader: "If the money was used for city improvements, that could put people to work who are out of work. It might be more important for more people to spend the money on parks and recreation or to get business to locate here which would put people to work."

Tim Suhre: "I would like the city to use the excess money that is not going to pay off the Show Me Center to go toward youth development and recreational needs. The city has a great need for soccer fields and also baseball fields. Just pay off the debt on time."