City Beat: Council considers renewing transportation sales tax

Voters first approved the tax, which funds major road improvement and safety projects, in November 1996. Voters approved renewals of the tax in 2000 and 2004.

City Public Works Director Marc Thornsberry said the four-year tax, which would raise an estimated $20 million, would allow the city to leverage an additional $40 million in state and federal funding.

The city has several projects in mind for the proposed funding:

• widening U.S. Highway 65 to six lanes between Battlefield Road and Chestnut Expressway;

• interchange improvements where James River Freeway meets Campbell and National avenues;

• interchange improvements at Interstate 44 and Kansas Expressway;

• intersection improvements at Kearney Street and National Avenue;

• projects to enhance mobility of alternative modes of transportation such as bicycling; and

• projects to improve turn-lane safety, bridge and pavement preservation and improved traffic flow.

“We work in partnership with (Missouri Department of Transportation) and Greene County, looking at where we can get the most value for the transportation dollars we have,” Thornsberry told council. “The most value is on the state highway system.”

Council is expected to vote on the proposal at its May 5 meeting. If council approves the bill, voters would see the tax on the Aug. 5 ballot.

Gas rates

A proposed increase to City Utilities natural gas rates is going back to the utility’s leaders for further review.

CU told council at its April 7 meeting that it needs about $5 million for increased natural gas costs and required infrastructure improvements. The utility recommended raising natural gas rates because the gas utility has been subsidized by electric revenues. In previous years, warmer winters have lead to decreased natural gas demand.

Mayor Tom Carlson, however, made a motion to table the rate hike proposal, asking the Board of Public Utilities to go back to the drawing board and consider either trimming its budget or spreading the increase out over multiple years to lessen the blow.

“We’ve gone through a tough period here in the last year in terms of public sentiment,” Carlson said, referring to the state audits of both the city and the utility. “Abraham Lincoln … said, ‘Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail, and without it, nothing can succeed.’ The timing is not really good right now.”

The motion to table the bill passed 8-1, with Councilman Doug Burlison casting the lone dissenting vote. Numerous council members, including Burlison, had previously indicated they would have voted against the proposal had it not been tabled.

Annexation

Council considered an annexation and rezoning request for a 7.9-acre parcel on West Bypass south of Sunshine Street.

South Creek Development Corp., the group making the request, owns the property immediately to the west and wants to develop that property and the property in question for highway commercial use, according to the bill.

While the Planning & Zoning Commission approved the request, saying the development fits others in the area, City Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky expressed concern about adding more land to the jurisdiction of already stretched city departments.

“For every square mile we add to the city – 640 acres – we need 4.49 police officers,” Rushefsky said at the meeting. “We have added 6,541 acres since 1997, and we’re not adding police officers. They say, ‘All we need is one-tenth of an officer for this five acres.’ But it adds up. I’m not against expanding the city, but I’m against expanding the city mindlessly just because we can.”

Mayor Carlson noted that the land’s proposed retail use would add sales tax revenue that could offset the cost of additional services.

Council is expected to vote on both the annexation and the rezoning May 5.