Letter: Let's renew TTF

On April 8, the voters of Cape Girardeau will have an opportunity to vote to renew our Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) for another five years. TTF is funded by a half-cent sales tax that was originally approved by our voters in 1995. At that time, our city leaders were looking for a way to fund the construction of several new streets in Cape as well as the maintenance of our existing streets and sidewalks. Since any kind of tax increase had historically been unpopular with voters, the decision was made to propose a five-year sunset with all projects funded on a “pay as you go” basis. This arrangement allowed our voters to hold the City accountable. If they did not deliver what they promised, our voters could refuse to renew it after five years.

As it turned out, the City did deliver what it had promised and has continued to do so for the last 30 years. In return, our voters have approved the renewal of TTF every five years since its inception.

Today, it is even more critical than ever to keep TTF in place. Over the years, as is very apparent to our citizens, our streets have continued to deteriorate. Realizing the frustration with the pace of repairs, our leaders have recently reached out to our voters to determine what their priorities were. The response was overwhelmingly in favor of repairing what we have before constructing any additional new streets. As a result, the list of projects to be funded by TT7 consists solely of repairs and replacements of existing streets.

It should be noted that upgrades to City codes for street construction and improvements in technology are resulting in new streets that will have a much longer life expectancy than those constructed 30 years ago.

Since TTF is funded with a sales tax, it should also be noted that it is estimated that over half of our sales tax is paid by non-residents of Cape. This is only fair since our neighbors utilize the same streets that we do when they come to Cape to work, go to their doctor or for all the other reasons people come to Cape.

Cape is my home, and I can’t think of any place else that I would rather live. I am very proud to call Cape my home and want it to be the best it can be. Please join me in voting "yes" for TTF on April 8.

Danny Essner, Cape Girardeau