Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer is inviting residents to share their big ideas at a town hall meeting this week, but the administration has an added incentive—promoting the local option sales tax.Vision Louisville is a public forum series scheduled to take place throughout the city and is part of Fischer’s 25-year strategic plan.The mayor hopes to gather 45,000 ideas from citizens over the next 45 days on how Louisville should develop and feel. Among the issues heard at the first public forum held last month were public transportation, quality of life and arts funding.Many of those and other ideas being shared concentrate on economic development, and mayoral spokesman Phil Miller says Fischer believes any future for Louisville must include a look at the cost of and how to pay for large-scale development."Certainly the idea of a progressive Louisville where progressive projects are undertaking is tied very closely to the LIFT initiative. And I think that’s why he thinks it’s important for the future of the city,” he says.Fischer has been a vocal proponent of allowing city residents to vote on whether to raise the state sales tax to fund special projects.A recent survey found72 percent of voters support that idea and just 19 percent are opposed. But state lawmakers from both parties have been hesitant, saying they prefer statewide tax reform instead.This week’s town hall is scheduled to begin 3 p.m. Monday at the Louisville Free Public Library’s main branch in downtown. This is the second of eight meetings that are scheduled to be held across the city in July and August.
