SIKESTON SUFFERS IN BILLS' FAILURE

It's going to be another long, hot summer for Sikeston police if the trend of warm-weather violence continues.

During the summer of 1994, residents of the city's Sunset Addition -- a large, primarily black neighborhood on Sikeston's west side -- took to the streets. They visited, and in some cases, drank, gambled and fought. People were shot and law enforcement officials who responded to the brawls were pelted with bottles and rocks.

The trend already has begun for this year. About two weeks ago, police were called to disband a rowdy group in Sunset, and Mayor Terry Bryant said he expects similar events throughout the summer.

Discussions about the problem always point to the same problem: too many criminals, too few police officers. But Sikeston doesn't have funds to increase the Department of Public Safety's $2.1 million budget to $2.7, where City Manager Steve Borgsmiller says it needs to be.

Officials pinned their hopes on a law enforcement sales tax, only to find last year that counties, not cities, were the only governmental divisions allowed to pass law enforcement sales taxes. State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, proposed a bill earlier this year that would allow up to a one-cent tax to be voted on, but it never made it out of committee.

Then Rep. Joe Heckemeyer, D-Sikeston, tried again with HB-452, proposing a half-cent law enforcement sales tax. It gained approval in the House but was dropped in a Senate committee. A substitute amendment didn't pass, and HB-452 ended up dealing with only fire protection districts and 911, hardly benefiting Sikeston.

Heckemeyer said he appreciated Kinder's support but was disappointed with Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, and who represents Sikeston's south side. Howard denied defeating the bill, saying another senator took out its tax provisions. He added that he would rather support preventative measures than tax increases.

"What happens, in the last few hours of the session, legislation gets passed that is not good for us," Howard said. "I'm not in the business of passing legislation sight unseen, but I didn't kill the bill."

No matter who is to blame, Heckemeyer will try again next session. Even if he is successful, Sikeston wouldn't see any revenue for three months after the city was allowed to put a sales tax measure on the ballot.

Sikeston city councilmen learned Friday night after the legislative session ended that the sales tax proposal went nowhere. They had a special meeting Monday afternoon to consider other possibilities, but it will be awhile before revenue-producing options are discussed seriously.

Back in December, the council voted to take money from its capital improvement fund to pay for more competitive police salaries, an additional detective and a canine unit. The total cost was $353,000.

"We only have so many dollars set aside for purchasing equipment," Borgsmiller said. "Once that well runs dry, we must start reducing services, and we don't have that many services to be reduced.

"We borrowed from Peter to pay Paul, and now Peter needs his money back."