By CAMILA FERNANDEZ
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
The Fishers city government on Thursday held a hearing so residents could share what they think about a bump in the food and beverage tax.
The extra cash would be used to fund a $170 million event center. The Indy Fuel minor league hockey team will be using it as the team’s home arena.
Fishers is proposing an additional 1 percent tax on food and beverage sales at restaurants.
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness says the city would use the money to help pay for the new event center at the Fishers District.
Fadness
“We’ve been waiting to find an amenity or a catalyst for economic development and growth that supports our growing restaurant community, because we think it makes sense that a food and beverage tax should be directly related back to the industry,” Fadness said. “When we came up with the concept of this event center we thought here’s an example of an amenity that really does support the local restaurant community and, so, we’re willing to contemplate raising that 1 percent to pay for the event center.”
The 1 percent tax would be added to customers’ bills at restaurants, including fast-food locations.
“If you went to lunch and it was $15, you’d be paying an additional 15 cents on your lunch in order to accomplish what we’re trying to do here,” Fadness said.
The new tax would be in addition to the 1 percent food and beverage tax that is already collected for Hamilton County.
The Republican mayor told News 8, “A, it benefits the very folks that we’re going to be collecting this from the restaurant industry. B, it allows us to collect money from individuals that don’t live within the confines of Fishers, and, C, it goes to something that we can all enjoy, a common gathering place where we can do anything from graduating our high school seniors all the through world class concerts.”
The Fishers City Council will take a final vote on the tax hike during its meeting Monday night.
Why should taxpayers fund a privatly owned hockey team or any other privatly owned sports entity Does one really think a minor league hockey team is going to bring millions of dollars of revenue to Fishers? Wake up tax payers, we are getting fleeced !
Try & be honest Mayor Fadness, both with your constituents & yourself
How does a restaurant thats miles away from the venue & wouldn’t see additional customers benefit ?
Once the facility is paid for, does that 1% tax disappear or does that revenue get ‘reallocated’ to another community ego project ?