VISION 2000: PEOPLE WOULD PAY SALES TAX FOR RIGHT PROJECTS

People at Tuesday's Vision 2000 transportation meeting would vote for a transportation tax if the money would affect streets and sidewalks where they live and shop.

But, they seemed reluctant to support a tax that would give the city carte blanche use of the funds.

City planner Kent Bratton said the city's charter allows citizens to pull the plug on a transportation tax if they are unhappy with how the city handled the tax.

A handful of citizens attended the meeting at First Baptist Church. It was the first in a series of meetings looking at how to finance the city's transportation needs. Previous meetings had discussed the transportation needs.

One of those attending said if people knew what projects would be affected and in what order, people would vote for a transportation tax.

Another didn't want to pay for something unless he knew he would use it.

And, he would like to know how his taxes would be affected by a transportation tax.

A half-cent transportation sales tax would increase the city's sales tax from 5.975 to 6.475 cents on a dollar and would generate an additional $3.2 million a year.

Assistant City Manager Doug Leslie said the city's sales tax is less than both Jackson's and Sikeston's, which have 6.225-cent sales taxes. Jackson and Perryville have half-cent transportation taxes.

A quarter-cent transportation sales tax would produce $1.6 million a year and make the city's sales tax equal to Jackson's and Sikeston's at 6.225 cents on a dollar.

Other sources of revenue reviewed by the committee were:

-- General fund revenues.

Currently general fund revenues aren't enough to cover the city's operating and equipment needs and those funds aren't generally used for street capital improvements.

-- General fund reserves.

The reserve fund, estimated to be $2.2 million at the end of the June 30 fiscal year, are for emergency situations and must be held in reserve for all potential city needs. More than $1 million a month is required to operate general city services.

-- Special assessments.

Property owners are assessed for the special benefit to their property. Because property owners can repay this amount over 10 years, bonds are required to cover initial cash expenditure. Repayments from the property owners are used to retire the bond debt.

-- Bond proceeds from revenue or general obligation bonds.

Bonds must have an identified source to repay them.

-- Motor fuel tax.

The city's share of the state motor fuel tax currently provides around $650,000 a year to fund street capital improvements. This amount is already allocated in the city's current five-year capital improvement program.

-- Additional property tax.

The city's current general property tax is 47 cents per $100 assessed valuation. Each cent of additional property tax levy, which voters must approve, would produce $28,000 a year.