Voters in the City of Petal will head to the polls on August 5 to determine whether to institute an additional 3 percent sales tax at restaurants in the Friendly City – a measure that would bring an estimated $750,000 in extra revenue to the city each year.
The decision to hold the election on that date was made by unanimous vote at a June 28 special-called meeting of the Petal Board of Aldermen, as board members were required to issue a resolution within a certain number of days in advance of the election. The polls will be open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
“The state has some requirements on when you can have it, from the time you vote (to have the election), Mayor Tony Ducker said. “For example, we couldn’t (set the election) now and then have it in October.
“I want to say it’s a window between 30 and 45 days, so that’s why we’re picking that particular day. We have to advertise, just like we’d have to for any other vote like this.”
The tax increase proposal passed both houses of the Mississippi Legislature in March. On the day of the election, 60 percent of the voters who turn out will have to vote in favor of the increase before it could be implemented.
The funds raised from the tax would go toward the city's parks and recreation department, which would allow the city to maintain that department at its current level. That, in turn, would free up money in the city’s general fund that could be used for measures such as the police department, fire department or infrastructure.
“I (am in favor of it); I see it as more of a ‘choice’ tax over a property tax, which I’m a no-go on, as far as taxes go,” Ducker said. “While it says ‘recreation and tourism,’ there are ways that it can free stuff up in the budget.
“So you can also pay police, you can also pave roads. You can do a lot of things that without it, you really don’t have the option to do.”
Voting precincts for the election are as follows:
- Masonic Lodge, 120 Cameron Street;
- Calvary Baptist Church, 1123 Mississippi 42; and
- Petal Civic Center, 712 A South Main Street.
The idea of a sales tax increase of 1, 2 or 3 percent at Petal restaurants has been passed around for the last several months as an option to increase much-needed revenue for other city programs and departments without having to raise property taxes or cut additional personnel. As a city entity, Petal has not increased taxes in more than a decade.
A 2 percent sales tax increase at restaurants was previously sent to the Legislature in March 2020 after being unanimously approved by aldermen, but that measure did not make it out of last year’s legislative session because of restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons.
Outgoing Mayor Hal Marx said while he generally opposes raising taxes – especially property, or ad valorem, taxes – he has always been in favor of letting voters decide whether to implement the restaurant tax.
“I know there’s always going to be people who are against any type of tax increase; I know I don’t like to pay any more taxes either,” he said in a previous story. “But if it comes down to either property tax, which I don’t have any choice over, or this kind of tax where I do have a choice, I would rather have (that choice).”
A similar sales tax measure was passed in Hattiesburg in early 2019, when voters overwhelmingly approved an additional 1 percent sales tax at Hub City restaurants, hotels and motels. The funds from that measure are currently going toward 17 Parks and Recreation Department projects throughout the city, including a splash pad in Palmers Crossing, an extension of the walking trail at Duncan Lake and the addition of batting cages at Vernon Dahmer Park.
“People still go to Hattiesburg, and Hattiesburg has had this tax now for years,” Marx said. “They’ve had a 2 percent tax for about the last 20 years, and then they added another percent just a year or two ago.
“I haven’t noticed any decrease in the number of people going out to eat in Hattiesburg. So I think people are willing to do it; I don’t think people are bothered as much by it as some opponents of it make it seem.”
