BENTON -- Scott County voters will decide Tuesday on a property tax increase that would help fund services for senior citizens in the county.

Voters rejected a sales tax increase by a 54 to 46 percent margin in April 1997 that would have gone to the Senior Citizens Services Fund. The current initiative is not for a sales tax increase but for a property tax increase.

The November proposition, dubbed "the senior tax," reads, "Shall Scott County levy a tax of $.05 per each $100 assessed valuation on all taxable property for the purposes of providing services to persons 60 years of age or older?"

If passed, tax revenues, projected at $150,000 per year, will be earmarked by the county commission for a senior citizens service fund.

Among the services to be funded by the tax would be three nutrition centers in the county, senior citizen transportation services, senior volunteer programs, counseling and support services, home health services and crisis services.

Currently, services for the senior citizens in the county are funded by matching grants, federal money and private donations. Senior advocates warn, however, that cuts in the federal budget may mean that senior organizations will receive less funds and senior services will be reduced.

"Soon we're going to have more senior citizens but not any more money than we have now," said Marilyn Schlosser, a seniors advocate who is working to get the tax passed.

"This tax will ensure the continuation of many senior citizen services," Schlosser said.

The initiative would increase the property tax by 5 cents per $100 assessed valuation on all taxable property. A family with a $60,000 home would pay an additional $6 per year for the senior tax. The tax increase on a $100,000 home would be less than $10 a year.

Seniors advocates approached the county commission in late July asking that an eighth of a cent sales tax increase be placed on the November ballot for the Senior Citizens Service Fund.

The commission studied the proposal and instead decided unanimously to place the property tax initiative on the November ballot. In writing the resolution that put the issue on the ballot, the commission said it recognized the need for the county's senior citizens' organizations and the "essential service" the groups provide.

Presiding Commissioner Bob Kielhofner, who is not seeking re-election, said the commission not only supported putting the initiative on the ballot but supported the tax itself.

Even if the tax initiative is passed in November, the tax itself will not go into effect until next year. The tax money will not be collected until the end of the year.

Once collected, a board of trustees set up by the county commission would have to propose how the money would be divided up among the county's senior citizens agencies.

The trustees would act on the basis of funding requests made by the agencies, prioritizing the requests and making their final recommendations to the commission. The commission would have the final say on how the funds would be divided.

Agencies are not likely to see any of the funds raised by the tax until sometime into 2000.

Presently in Southeast Missouri six counties -- Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Reynolds, Ripley and Ste. Genevieve -- have property taxes that go to their counties' Senior Citizens Services Funds. Mississippi County also has a fund, although it receives its money through a sales tax rather than through a property tax.