Cape Girardeau voters to decide raise for police, firefighters on April 2

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – A big question before voters in Cape Girardeau is one that could determine whether or not police officers and firefighters see a raise of at least 8%.

On the Tuesday, April 2 ballot voters will vote on a real estate and property tax levy dedicated to police and firefighter’s salaries and benefits.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Stacy Kinder discusses what this would mean for the city and other issues Cape Girardeau faces.

“It’s a property tax increase that will go specifically for police and fire salary and benefits,” said Mayor Kinder.

She says voters have an important decision to make April 2. On the ballot is a real estate and property tax levy to give police officers and firefighters a raise.

“What we are finding is that we are doing salary increases across the board and our public safety forces are so expensive we just haven’t been able to make those significant salary increases like we’d like to doing it same way we’ve always done it. So this is a new idea – to tap into our property tax,” said Mayor Kinder.

Kinder explained for every $100 in assessed property value there would be an increase of about 25 cents in property tax.

On the city’s website, voters can look at a chart to find out what their additional cost would be if the tax passes.

“Here in Cape, there is an average home value of around $200,000. And if you follow that chart that shows that roughly that would mean $120 increase in a persons property tax bill,” said Mayor Kinder.

She says the tax would help ensure our public safety force has a competitive salary for years to come increasing by at least 8 percent in the first year.

“Our salaries have not been very competitive to be honest,” said Mayor Kinder.

In a letter to the citizens of Cape Girardeau, Chief of Police Wes Blair and Fire Chief Randy Morris encouraged the community to invest in our people — saying our general revenue property tax rate is among the lowest of comparable cities across the state.

They wrote, “our community deserves the best– and offering competitive salaries aligned with comparable cities throughout the state enhances our ability to attract quality candidates and retain those who have committed their professionals careers to this city.”

If voters say no, police and firefighters will see the same cost of living raise as other city employees. That will be determined in June when the next budget is finalized.

“What we like about using the property tax method it is a very stable,” said Mayor Kinder. “It is a very consistent revenue source.”

Mayor Kinder also discussed recent violence in Cape Girardeau including the late February shooting near CVS Pharmacy. She praised first responders for their work.

“I think everyone in these higher profile things I think everyone’s been amazing so grateful at the response that our public safety folks had, and everyone of those situations.”

She says the city is very data driven — always exploring options to keep the community safer — and will soon as the public to join in on those conversations:

“We are a wonderful community,” said Mayor Kinder. “There has been some alarming things come recently and it’s alarming to the whole city because people care about our community.”

Mayor Kinder says it’s a good time to live in Cape Girardeau with exciting developments happening across town from the mall to the Old Town Cape District.

“We’re seeing the benefits now of tax initiatives for example, that have been approved in the past by a voters and so that brings in new ballfields, new facilities, a lot of programs and things like that,” said Mayor Kinder. “So I have to say first of all thanks to the taxpayers and the voters in our community who have seen that these things would be great here there are a lot of developers of business people that are doing some new and really interesting things.”

Voters go to the polls Tuesday, April 2.

Tap here to read a letter to citizens from Chief of Police Wes Blair and Fire Chief Randy Morris.