Stan Polivick, director of Cape Girardeau Public Works for the last three years, said he views it as a "great compliment" when people take for granted what his 94-person department does and hopes Cape residents will remember this when they go to the polls in November to vote on an online sales tax referendum.

"We work very hard every day to provide services, and we are very good at it," said Polivick, a 1974 Sikeston High School graduate.

Losing people

"In the last five years, we've lost 117 people from our staff: 89 to resignation, 14 to retirement, four to other departments within the municipality, nine to termination and one to death," said Polivick, who started working for Missouri's 16th-largest city in 2008. "I'm short (on) people and because of this, we often have to borrow people from one of our seven divisions to get work done -- and fixing potholes is a great example. Potholes will still be patched, but it'll take longer with fewer people."

Polivick said he normally has two crews per day working on street repairs but on Friday, due to 11 unfilled positions, he had only one crew working.

"Our solid waste division is fully staffed, but due to our overall shortage, I've had to take drivers from our streets division to get the work done," he said.

Polivick said the department is responsible for a wide variety of services -- streets and traffic, most municipal fleet repairs, wastewater, drinking water, sewer, stormwater and hauling away residential garbage.

Public Works is fulfilling its mission, he said, but more slowly because of vacancies.

"One of the biggest impacts is our institutional memory, the experienced people we're losing to other jobs that pay more," he explained.

Mayor Bob Fox said he has heard Polivick's lament repeated city wide, including from Cape Girardeau's public safety forces.

"It's a similar issue [with Public Works]. Being able to find and keep employees is a continuing challenge," said Fox, who is running for a second mayoral term in April.

Pay scale

"I have six unfilled maintenance worker No. 2 positions, with starting pay of $13.10 per hour. We have men being hired elsewhere for similar work who begin at $15, $16, even $17 hourly," Polivick said.

Two crew leader slots at $16.70 per hour are open as are two $14.40 per-hour equipment operator jobs and a single senior solid waste driver who earns $15.20 hourly."

Unlike some other municipal governments, Cape Girardeau city currently does not provide in-grade increases, meaning aside from cost-of-living adjustments, a worker likely will continue to earn his essential starting wage for years unless promoted.

'We need to upgrade our pay plan and have more funding to spend on upgrading vehicles and purchasing concrete and steel, which are getting more expensive," said Polivick, who before coming to Cape Girardeau worked 20 years as city engineer in Slidell, Louisiana. "We have personnel shortages. Our pay scale isn't competitive, and it's taking longer for us to get our job done."

Polivick said the city of Cape Girardeau does pay, for full-time staff, 100% of health insurance coverage and retirement contributions

Online sales tax

Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City are three local municipalities that will ask their residents to greenlight a user tax on Internet sales Nov. 2.

If approved by a simple majority of voters in Cape Girardeau, a use tax would add 2.75% to online purchases made by city residents, equivalent to the current sales tax rate.

Fox told the Southeast Missourian it is estimated the online tax would generate $2.5 to $3 million in additional revenue for city coffers.

In Jackson, approval would mean a 2.5% increase to the price of online purchases made by residents of Cape Girardeau's county seat.

If approved, an Internet use tax would go into effect in Jan. 1, 2023.