Bossier City Councilman Chris Smith has withdrawn proposed Entertainment Development Districts from consideration by the Bossier City Council, saying more planning and broader community support are needed before the city considers a change of that magnitude.

The proposal would have included an additional 2% sales tax for businesses in the newly formed districts.

Smith announced the decision in a statement, saying the proposal was intended to create a dedicated revenue stream for reinvestment in Bossier City’s East Bank, the Louisiana Boardwalk, entertainment corridor and surrounding areas.

“After a great deal of consideration, I have decided to withdraw the proposed Entertainment Development District from the City Council agenda,” Smith said.

Smith said the proposed EDD was intended to reinvest money generated within the entertainment district into public spaces, infrastructure, events, marketing and amenities. The goal, he said, was to attract more visitors, strengthen existing businesses and encourage additional private investment.

“The objective was never simply to collect more money,” Smith said. “The objective was to use a dedicated revenue stream to grow the economic pie enough that businesses, the district, and ultimately the entire City benefited.”

Smith acknowledged that the concept of adding a tax can appear counterintuitive, particularly to businesses that would be affected by it. He said the theory behind an EDD is that revenue generated through the district would be reinvested directly into the area to improve conditions for businesses and attract additional economic activity.

Smith said the proposal was developed in part by studying similar development districts across Louisiana. While he acknowledged that there was no guarantee Bossier City would see the same results as other communities, he said the examples were enough to warrant serious consideration of the concept.

The proposal also sought to establish what Smith described as a public-private partnership in which businesses operating within the district would have a role in determining how the revenue was reinvested.

“Rather than City Hall simply collecting money and deciding how to spend it, the concept evolved toward giving the people actually investing, employing people, and doing business in the district a seat at the table,” Smith said.

Smith pushed back against suggestions that the proposal was developed behind closed doors. According to his statement, businesses within the proposed district were notified by mail three times, while three community meetings were held during the process. Smith also said he and those involved in developing the proposal participated in more than 100 individual or group meetings with business owners, stakeholders and members of the community.

He said feedback from those discussions resulted in repeated changes to the proposal, including changes to boundaries, governance, protections and accountability measures.

“The proposal that ultimately emerged looked substantially different from where we started because the public process was real,” Smith said.

Smith acknowledged that conducting the process publicly also made it more difficult because residents and businesses were able to see the proposal evolve while legal, financial and practical issues were still being addressed.

“That can look messy,” Smith said. “But I would rather conduct the public’s business in the open, even when doing so is politically difficult, than develop major public policy behind closed doors and unveil it only when the votes are secured.”

Despite defending the intent and development process behind the proposal, Smith said he believes there were shortcomings in how the EDD was presented.

“Perhaps our biggest mistake was spending too much time explaining the mechanism before we had fully developed and communicated the vision for what that mechanism would accomplish,” Smith said.

Smith said the proposal focused heavily on how an EDD would function before providing a sufficiently detailed picture of the projects and priorities residents and businesses could expect.

“That is a fair question,” Smith said.

The decision to withdraw the proposal comes as Smith said concerns remain among members of the business community and the public.