St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 8

A A- 8A REGION ST.LDUIS POST-DISPATCH FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1987 Tight Budget Forecast For State Next Year Brewery And Ralston Oppose Payroll Tax TT wj. jiu.1 mm ilKWPXIMHHHHMi iff' w.y-.. JUL i Oil 1m s. place an additional tax burden on employers who already provide a tax base, jobs and many other benefits to the city." The statement from Stephen K. Lambright, a company vice president, offered no further comment.

Fred Perabo, a Ralston spokesman, said that the company "is opposed to the recommendation of the Tax Reform Commission." He said the plan would make St. Louis less competitive in trying to attract new businesses. Ralston has about 3,000 employees in the city. Perabo said the payroll tax would cost the company more than three times what the head tax does. Spokesmen for groups that represent large businesses have complained that a payroll tax will cost them substantially more than the flat-rate head tax of $60 for each employee annually.

But Anheuser-Busch and Ralston are the first companies to oppose the payroll tax individually and in public. Perabo said Ralston would consider the call to put a ceiling on the payroll tax. Schoemehl said he tended to support that idea as a temporary measure. The Missouri Merchants and Manufacturers Association, which represents small- and medium-sized businesses, endorses the payroll tax. That association helped lead a fight in court to repeal the head tax, which city voters then reinstated in March of this year for three years.

being used to finance state programs. For example, the Legislature and Gov. John Ashcroft included about $122.9 million of the windfall in the budget for the current fiscal year. But Moody said the state would get only about $111.1 million of that amount. About $50 million of the higher taxes had been set aside in the event that the windfall would prompt a refund under the Hancock Amendment.

But Moody said state revenue this fiscal year was falling about $58 million short of projections. To balance the $6.7 billion budget, the state will spend the $50 million that had been set aside in the Hancock Amendment fund, Moody said. The rest of the shortfall will be covered by money that had been appropriated for state agencies but not spent. Ashcroft already has withheld 5 percent of state agencies' appropriations and 3 percent of money appropriated for higher education. Moody added that the sluggish economic growth probably would mean that refunds will not be due under the Hancock Amendment.

The amendment provides that when state revenue grows at a rate greater than individual income, the excess must be refunded to taxpayers. "It is our estimation that the Hancock Amendment will not be triggered," Moody said. Legislative leaders agreed Thursday with Moody's assessment that the Legislature will not be able to cut taxes next year without cutting services. "You've got to face reality," said House Budget Committee Chairman Marvin E. Proffer, D-Jackson.

House Minority Leader Derek Holland, R-Lee's Summit, said the windfall would be hard to refund next year because the higher taxes already are included in the budget. "It's going to be very difficult to give it all back after we spend it," Holland said. tfi By Jim Mosley Post-Dispatch Jefferson City Bureau JEFFERSON CITY Missouri's top budget official forecast on Thursday a tight budget for the coming fiscal year and said the state would be unable to cut taxes without cutting state programs. "You absolutely would have to re duce services," said James R. Moody, the state's deputy director for budget and planning.

Moody said any program cuts "principally would affect education." In addition, Moody said this year's taxpayers probably would not get the first special refund under the state constitution's tax and spending limitation, which is known as the Hancock Amendment. In June, Gov. John Ash-croft raised the possibility of such a refund. The next fiscal year begins July 1, 1988. Moody said the budget for that period would be tight because of slow economic growth and because the state will have to pay at least $200 million for desegregation programs in St.

Louis and Kansas City. The tight budget will complicate and may prevent any chance of refunding to Missourians the higher state taxes that they have paid since Jan. 1. The higher state taxes resulted from changes in the federal tax code. This year, bills that would have given state tax refunds to Missourians dominated the legislative session.

But the House and Senate failed to agree on the issue, and the state ended up keeping all the higher taxes. The tax windfall will be about $161 million in this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 1988. The windfall in the next fiscal year is expected to be more than $200 million. In a meeting Wednesday with reporters, Moody refused to say whether the state should cut taxes. But he said any tax-refund measure would prompt cuts in state programs because the higher taxes already are Bel-Ridge Man Guilty GET 'O1 I ByTimO'Neil Of the Post-Dispatch Staff A plan to create a payroll tax on businesses in St.

Louis in place of two other taxes was opposed Thursday by Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. and Ralson Purina two of the city's most influential companies. An advisory commission, led by former Mayor John H. Poelker, proposed the new tax on Monday after five months of study.

Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl who appointed the commission, quickly endorsed its plan, with some reservations. Aldermanic President Thomas A. Villa is scheduled to propose the idea formally today to the Board of Aldermen. Its key elements are the setting up of a 0.6 percent tax on for-profit business payrolls and the abolition of the city "head tax" and merchants and manufacturers taxes on businesses.

Villa's bills call for placing the issue before city voters on the ballot March 8. Aldermanic hearings are expected next week. Poelker will address the full Board of Aldermen today on the issue. About the same time and for the same purpose the Regional Commerce Growth Association will hold a meeting with representatives of major businesses. In a brief statement Thursday, Anheuser-Busch said: "We believe it would be inappropriate for the city to Lottery Jackpot Hasn't Sunk In, By Robert Goodrich Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Although he hit a $4 million Illinois lottery jackpot last weekend, Gary Kubernat of Fenton was at his regular job Thursday as assistant development manager for Citicorp.

"It hasn't even sunk in yet," Kubernat said. "I'm still trying to believe it, I guess." Kubernat will get $200,000 a year minus taxes for the next 20 years. When asked what he plans to do with it, he replied, "I really don't have any idea." Kubernat, 41, is a widower with two daughters, ages 7 and 11. Although the younger one does not really understand the event, both are pretty excited about their dad's good fortune, he said. "They've expanded their Christmas list." Ted DarganPost-Dispatch A home at 2642 Ann Avenue on the Near South Side, where two men were injured in a fire late Wednesday.

Firefighters Rescue Two From Fire On South Side Of $4 Million Winner Says He bougnt the lucky ticket at Diehl's Roadside Market Lottery in Columbia, 111. The store is at Old Illinois Route 3 east of the Jefferson Barracks Bridge. Edna Mae Diehl, part owner, said her store had sold a ticket about two years ago that won $261,000 as one of several to split a sizable jackpot. "This is our first big one," she said. Kubernat discovered that he had all six numbers for the Illinois lottery drawing Saturday when he checked the Sunday issue of the Post-Dispatch, he said.

At first, he assumed that he was most likely one of several people who would split the winnings. But when he called Diehl's, he was told that he was the sole winner of $4 million, he said. Kubernat said he planned to keep his regular job for now "and see what happens." Haggin was carried unconscious from his second-floor bedroom by fire Capt. Dave Smith and Private Don Woods of Engine Co. 14.

Bomb and arson squad detectives said the two-story brick house had been heavily damaged. A natural-gas line had been disconnected from a water heater in the basement, and a mattress had been placed by the heater so that it would catch fire, detectives said. Donald Boehme 22, who lived downstairs, discovered the fire about 11:30 p.m. He and his parents, Donald and Kathryn Boehme, escaped unharmed. The fire was brought under control in about 1 5 minutes, Schaper said.

Arson detectives said they did not believe that Knapp or Haggin had been the intended target. They said they were following strong leads in the case. Firefighters rescued two men late Wednesday from a burning house on the Near South Side, authorities said. Investigators say the fire, at 2642 Ann Avenue, was a case of arson. Edward Haggin, 80, was in critical condition Thursday at Barnes Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent of his body.

Martin Knapp, 52, was in satisfactory condition at St. Louis Regional Medical Center, where he was being treated for smoke inhalation. Knapp had been in critical condition after firefighters rescued him from his second-floor bedroom. "In fact, his heart had stopped, but he was revived with CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)," said Battalion Chief Frank Schaper. Firefighters Steve Olliges, Dennis Jenkerson and Earl Neal of Rescue Squad 1 administered CPR, Schaper said.

A man from Bel-Ridge has been found guilty of a string of burglaries and rapes in north and west St. Louis County. A jury in Louis County deliberat-v ed five hours before returning the verdict against Vince T. Childers, 27, about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The jury found Childers guilty of -two counts of first-degree burglary, two counts of rape and one count of second-degree robbery. He was ac-'- quitted of one count of burglary, Childers, of the 4300 block of Springdale Drive, had admitted breaking into women's apartments and assaulting the residents, but he Of Rapes, Burglaries claimed at the trial that he was suffering from mental illness and so was not criminally responsible for the acts. The incidents occurred from May to August of last year at the Raintree Apartments in North County. Childers was arrested in September 1986 while he was lurking around the apartment complex. Upon his arrest, he confessed to another rape in May 1986 at the Brighton Apartments in North County.

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