Pascagoula Residents Vote against Two Percent Restaurant Tax

Pascagoula voters decided today not to add a two percent restaurant tax that would fund city wide recreation.
Pascagoula residents had the chance to vote in the special election today. The vote was 56 percent for and 43 percent against. The referendum needed 60 percent of the votes to pass.
The tax was for prepared food and beverages throughout the city and the collection would have helped repay a recreation bond the city is eligible for.
Those who support the tax say the community could use the facelift. Those against it say restaurants in Pascagoula are already hurting without the tax.
Jason Williams supports the prepared food and beverage tax. He said, “I’m for it. I believe anything we can do to help our youth is a good thing in our community. The community needs a little spark. I believe this will give it the spark it needs to improve facilities and hopefully bring in people from out of town.”
Terry Davis is against the prepared food and beverage tax. He said, “We don’t have that many restaurants in Pascagoula to begin with and if you’re going to add two percent on top of it, we might as well keep doing what we are doing and that’s going over to Mobile or D’Iberville or Ocean Springs.”
The tax was expected to generate between $775,000 and $1,020,000 annually.