(Photo: A Louisiana police K-9 unit parked in the 1100 block of Decatur Street | Dave Minsky)
Members of the French Quarter Economic Development District are scheduled Thursday to vote on a resolution to begin the process that will again ask voters to approve a sales tax designed to fund additional police services throughout the neighborhood in an April 2021 election.
Introduced by Kristin Gisleson Palmer (who’s a member of the District and also District C City Council member), the resolution would give public notice calling for French Quarter residents to vote approve a 0.245% sales tax measure in an April 24, 2021 special election.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. and will be held virtually. An agenda and meeting broadcast can be found here.
The resolution sets the District up for a vote to formally approve the ballot measure at 9 a.m. on Jan. 14, 2021.
Residents defeated the “S&U tax” measure Dec. 5, with 595 residents, or 67% of the 892 in total who cast ballots, voting against extending the 0.2495% sales tax an additional five years, or until 2025. If passed, the measure expected to generate about $2 million in the first year alone over the five year period, and would fund additional New Orleans Police patrols throughout the French Quarter.
The tax was originally passed in 2015 and almost exclusively funded patrols from Louisiana State Police Troop N, which is scheduled to disband before the end of the year.
Read a copy of the resolution here.