BATON ROUGE - A lot of unanswered questions remain after the EBR Metro Council approved a taxing district for LSU.

Several people asked the council to vote against it until there's a clear understanding of where the money would be used.

"It doesn't say for how long, it doesn't say for what purpose. It's giving a blank check for, I guess, in perpetuities for the 1% sales tax to be levied," one community member said.

Members of the community went before the Metro Council to voice opposition to a proposed one percent sales and use tax that will be levied by the LSU Economic Development District.

Some say the decision should be made by voters.

"I believe that sales tax should be imposed with a vote of the people, and this particular district was drawn with a specific purpose of excluding anybody who was a potential voter," another community member said.

While others seem to believe the tax is going towards the development of a new arena.

"I could stand here and say this whole tax is to prop up the development. It may not have been created for that, but because it was created, it's going to be used," a member of the community said.

The LSU Economic Development District falls under councilwoman Carolyn Coleman. She says taxpayer dollars are not going towards the arena.

"These are private donors who will be with this arena, making this happen. You're talking about $400 million. We got a hole here in this city, if we had that kind of money, we could fill that hole," she said.

A member of the LSU Economic Development District Board addressed the council. He says there is no designated use for the money collected from the tax, yet he says that will be discussed at a public meeting on a later date.

"This has been formed to support the entire district around LSU," he said.

LSU isn't the only university to receive the one percent sales tax for its economic development district. Southern University also approved the tax earlier this month; it's expected to take effect in October due to oversight by the Metro Council.

"We've done our first step, and now it's back at the university," Coleman said.