Officials in Welsh have approved the creation of a new economic development district that will help fund infrastructure improvements for a new truck stop and convenience store, as well as upgrades for future economic growth.

Under a series of measures approved by the Welsh Board of Aldermen, the newly formed Welsh Economic Development District No. 1 will allow the town to levy an additional two-cents sales tax on inside sales made at the truck stop and convenience store. The sales tax will not apply to fuel sales or affect any other businesses in Welsh, according to Mayor Karl Arceneaux.

“The money from this district will pay the town back for the sewer project that we are doing on that side of the interstate and also the Frontage Road turning lane improvement the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is requiring us to do,” he said.

The Welsh Economic Development District No. 1 will include a six-acre site on the West Frontage Road, just north of Interstate 10, where the truck stop is being built. It will also include nearly seven acres to the north of the site for any future economic development, Arceneaux said.

Collection of the sales tax will begin once the business is open, Arceneaux said. Construction is expected to be complete by mid-2024.

“The owner was telling me they thought they might have $400,000 worth of inside sales per month, which I am going to take a more conservative approach and say $250,000 to $300,000 a month, so that would be two-cents on those sales, in addition to what the town already gets from the existing two-cents sales tax,” he said. “So the town of Welsh will actually be getting 4-cents from any sales there.”

A similar economic development district was created by the city of Jennings earlier this year to allow the city to levy a one-cent sales tax to subsidize a sewer lift relocation project to accommodate construction of Hebert’s Boudin and Cracklins near the intersection of La. 26 and West Interstate Drive.