Kinder: Funding initiatives in 2024 and the future

In 2024 the City of Cape Girardeau advanced several significant projects. We launched Lexington Avenue repairs, restored jet service to Chicago, kicked off Phase One of vital water plant renovations, and recently approved a $600,000 set of expenditures for our police department. We also brought two new initiatives to the voters that nearly passed. The Public Safety Salary funding initiative lost by only 138 votes. Additionally, 7,000 city residents voted to increase their own water rates to better fund water treatment system upgrades. That’s an incredible amount of support for new initiatives — historic, actually.

In recent years, the city council has brought forward tax initiatives that have mostly been extensions of previous initiatives — not new taxes. The last truly new city tax was the 2008 Parks, Recreation and Stormwater (PRS) initiative that renovated parks, built the Shawnee Park Center and Cape Splash, and created many stormwater projects.

However, this year we needed to present new approaches to challenges that have grown in Cape over many years. Our public safety officers need a better-dedicated funding source for stronger pay and benefits. Additionally, the water treatment system has massive upgrades needed to continue providing enough clean water to our growing city.

Both of these issues went to voters after many months of public discussions and presentations. I’ve communicated extensively on these issues in various ways, including two previous letters to the paper on both the Public Safety Property Tax Initiative and Water Rate Increase Initiative. Despite a lot of misinformation spreading during both campaigns and some poorly worded ballot language, many supporters still came out to vote for these two important issues.

In considering the election results, it's important to realize that we’ve been here before. There was a time when the Fire Safety Tax, Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) and PRS were new. And they all failed at first, too. There remains support for new ideas in Cape Girardeau.

Over the past seven years that I have served as a city council member and now as mayor, I have consistently heard from citizens on the priorities of infrastructure, public safety and economic development for our community. These three issues are so interrelated that it is difficult to separate them regarding their importance to the progress and vitality of our city. The work this city council and administration had done in the past several years — in putting together fiscally responsible plans to impact the two issues pertaining to our public safety salaries and water system, as well as crafting smart annual budgets — reflects those priorities as well. You can see all of our annual budgets and audits at cityofcape.org/budget.

Helping citizens understand how and why the city pays for things is always a large challenge. When the city invests in “quality of life” or economic development issues, those expenses don’t necessarily compete with public safety or infrastructure projects. Funds obligated by voter commitments — such as TTF, PRS, hotel/motel/restaurant taxes, or the Casino Fund — can only be used for specific purposes, and only when they are sufficiently funded in the appropriate way.

I’ll offer a timely analogy — as we are in the season of gift-giving, we all consider not only what gifts to give but also how to pay for them. Typical payments might come from checking or savings accounts, layaway programs, and/or credit cards. No one should buy Christmas gifts using a retirement fund or their child’s 529 College Plan — these are funds created for specific purposes and have consequences for misuse. The city has to operate in the same way, using the correct funds for corresponding expenses.

I and the rest of city leadership will continue to champion these ideas to support smart, appropriate funding for vital city services. We believe that we must continue to show the public the facts on issues involving city finances, infrastructure needs, and public safety problems — no matter how challenging that may initially be.

Despite the losses at the polls this year, we remain encouraged at the prospect of the Public Safety and Water Rate initiatives in the near future. They are important and necessary. We continue to believe the nexus between property values and well-supported public safety is a strong one. The nexus between community health and growth, and a modern, higher-capacity water system is strong as well.

Given the events of the past week — experiencing another large water main break, with a subsequent city-wide boil water advisory — makes keeping these initiatives on the public’s radar even more important. The problems addressed in these new initiatives are not going to fix themselves, and it will take this community’s commitment to make those fixes happen.

The new funding sources created from these initiatives are essential to developing a stronger quality of life here in Cape. Working with our community champions, the news media, and all of our staff and leadership on invigorated education and campaigns, these initiatives can pass.

Before these issues come back to the public, however, we will need to address the TTF7 initiative for the April ballot. Our TTF citizen advisory committee presented their findings to the city council last Monday after working for five months to review community input and data from city staff. Since 1995, the TTF initiatives have provided support for infrastructure upkeep and projects like no other program we have ever seen in Cape, and we are extremely optimistic about its continued success. You can find recent, current and upcoming street repair projects at cityofcape.org/streets, and we’ll discuss it more at the next council meeting on Dec. 16.

In January, I will present a comprehensive list of the city’s 2024 accomplishments that will show how tax dollars continue to be used to fulfill commitments to the community.

Stacy Kinder is the mayor of Cape Girardeau.