CAPE SALES TAX REVENUE OVER $100 PER RESIDENT

Cape Girardeau is among 83 Missouri cities whose sales tax revenue for calendar year 1990 amounted to more than $100 per capita, a University of Missouri-Columbia study shows.

The city of Cape Girardeau received more than $4.8 million from its 1-cent sales tax, which equaled $139.51 per resident based on the 1990 census of 34,438, the study said.

John Ballard, state specialist with the University of Missouri-Columbia Governmental Affairs Program, conducted the study of the 467 cities in Missouri that had a general sales tax in 1990.

Ballard made the comparisons by examining Department of Revenue figures detailing local sales tax collections and disbursements.

He said the study showed that the amount of sales tax collected varied widely among the cities.

"We seem to have settled in Missouri on the sales tax as our tax of choice, but it is much more productive in some places than it is others," said Ballard.

"The secret of it is you have to sell stuff and you have to sell taxable stuff," he explained.

"Every year we keep adding to the sales tax exemptions," he pointed out. Most of the sales tax revenue is coming from retail sales, Ballard said.

Of the 83 cities receiving more than $100 per capita in general sales tax revenue, 36 are county seats, which usually means above average retail trade; 27 are situated along interstate highways; and 16 are linked to lakes that generate considerable tourism business, Ballard said.

The 10 cities with the highest general sales tax per capita were: Lakeview, $4,085; Kingdom City, $1,110; Leadington, $784; Randolph, $729; Branson, $632; Osage Beach, $612; North Kansas City, $607; Vandiver Village, $534; Laurie, $462; and Lake Ozark, $391.

Ballard said Lakeview had a population of only 37 in 1990. The city is basically a retail area along Table Rock Lake in southwest Missouri.

In contrast to those cities with high per capita figures, 49 cities, most of them small in size, had sales tax revenues amounting to less than $25 per resident in 1990, Ballard said. They included Hayti Heights in Pemiscot County, which generated sales tax revenue amounting to only $11.51 per resident.

City officials in Southeast Missouri said per capita figures can be misleading.

But both they and Ballard said the figures do reflect the economic activity in Missouri cities.

"It is a pretty good indication of trade centers and where trade is going," said Ballard.

Al Stoverink, Cape Girardeau's assistant city manager, said of the per capita figures: "I think it is a very meaningful and positive statistic relative to the local economy."

Said Stoverink, "It merely reflects the fact that we have a lot of people coming to Cape Girardeau to do their retail business."

The 1-cent sales tax brings in nearly 50 percent of the city's $9.7 million of general fund revenue.

"We just couldn't operate (without the tax)," said Stoverink. "I doubt that there is a city over 7,500 that doesn't have a sales tax with the exception of some bedroom communities in metropolitan areas."

Stoverink said that while the city receives substantial revenue from the sales tax as a result of being a retail trade center, it also has added expenses.

"A hub like Cape Girardeau has a lot more service demands than a bedroom community, for example," he pointed out.

"For example, daytime traffic in Cape Girardeau has increased by 18 percent just in the last four years. That means a lot more activity that city government has to service."

Cape Girardeau Police have seen a 40 percent increase in incident calls over the past four years, he said.

"The number of people using city parks has increased. The wear and tear on city streets has increased," he added.

But all things considered, Stoverink said, "I think Cape Girardeau is fortunate to be in this position."

City officials in other Southeast Missouri communities said the city of Cape Girardeau benefits in terms of sales tax revenue generated by residents throughout the region, who come to the city to buy merchandise and services.

Carl Talley, Jackson city administrator, said: "The sales tax story is tied to the shopping habits of people. It's not tied to anything else."

Cape Girardeau, said Talley, is a commercial center. "It's pretty hard for a small merchant in Jackson to compete with that kind of competition in Cape Girardeau."

Despite that fact, he termed Jackson's business activity as "healthy."

Of the general sales tax revenue, Talley said, "Every little bit helps. Anything is sizable in our budget."

Jackson received $746,433 in sales tax revenue in 1990.

Without such tax revenue, Talley said, the city could not afford to provide some services, such as free trash pickup.

Craig Lindsley, Perryville city administrator, said per capita comparisons "give you some sort of barometer if you want to take a look at how you rank with your neighboring communities."

But he said he doesn't put much stock in such comparisons. He said it's difficult to compare a "hub city" like Cape Girardeau with Perryville. "You're comparing what I would call watermelons and grapes."

Perryville's general sales tax generates more than $650,000, which represents only about 7 percent of the city budget. The bulk of the city's revenue is generated by the municipal utility operations.

Lindsley said that Cape Girardeau receives more sales tax revenue than other Southeast Missouri communities because it is a bigger city and "is kind of the hub of the whole area."

"Because of the size of the community, they literally can offer things that communities the size of Perryville and Jackson can't provide," he said.