A proposed road tax for Concordia Parish has the support of officials from Clayton and Ridgecrest.

The towns are the only incorporated communities that would be affected by the new tax, a sales tax affecting purchases made in the parish outside of Ferriday and Vidalia. The tax will be voted on Saturday.

Ridgecrest would receive approximately $66,000 and Clayton $74,000 from the sales tax, a 1.5 cent increase over the parish’s current sales tax of 7.25 percent. Projected revenues for the tax are approximately $950,000. The towns receive a portion of the tax based upon their population.

The Concordia Parish police jury has outlined a plan to use the bulk of the money to undertake a two-year project to resurface 82 parish roads.

Ridgecrest Mayor Guy Lain said the tax will help his town and the parish maintain roads.

&8221;I fully support it,&8220; Lain said. &8221;The parish needs tax revenue to support maintenance and building of roads, and a sales tax is the fairest way to do it. That ensures that the ones using the roads are the ones supporting the roads.&8220;

Clayton Mayor Wilbert Washington said the tax would go a long way toward helping his town and the parish improve roads.

&8221;It’s going to be real great for Clayton,&8220; Washington said. &8221;It will help us enhance the roads and streets in town. It’s going to be good for the parish as well.&8220;

Lain said his town would use the tax money to help pay for the services it already provides residents and possibly some street work.

&8221;We’ll get our pro rata share and be able to use it to help provide services to our citizens,&8220; Lain said. &8221;For a small municipality struggling to make ends meet, these funds will be badly needed to provide services to our citizens.&8220;

Washington and Lain both said the citizens of their respective communities they had spoken to were in favor of the tax.

&8221;(The people) I speak with, they’re all for it. Everyone’s for it once they get to understand it,&8220; Washington said. &8221;They want to make sure no one is going to take this money away from roads, but it’s dedicated.&8220;