(WBRZ News 2) Voters in Gonzales will decide on possibly raising the sales tax by a half-cent this October.
The City of Gonzales council passed a resolution to allow a half-cent sales tax increase, which will hike the city's sales tax to 10 percent if voters approve it on October's ballot.
One resident shared his concerns with the council and said he knows how some of the tax money would be spent.
"It was gone before police and fire, and then now then I read this and I'm going...well first off, have we heard anything about it FEMA going to build that Civic Center or most of it?," one resident said.
The City believes the half-cent increase is an opportunity to improve the city of Gonzales. And Barry Arceneaux, the mayor of Gonzales, said now is the time to implement the tax hike.
"We feel like this is the time to do it now...and again I mentioned those two items as public safety but when you take it down further and you looking at a civic center building that we've got we know we need to replace that...and you're looking at 8 to 10 million dollars," Arceneaux said.
One small business owner in the city said he thinks the tax increase will not have a big impact on consumers. Luke Marchand, the owner of Carlie Co. Cafe, said the new tax money would help the city thrive.
"Helping improve infrastructure or whatever in the community. Not that I'm pleased to have a ten percent tax but for but for the improvement I'm not against it, you know for the betterment of our community," Marchand said.
The next step in the process is for the resolution to go before the City's Bond Commission in May or June.