Working and playing in downtown Spokane might get more expensive as the city is considering imposing a parking tax on all lots and garages to help fill a $12 Million budget deficit.

The city says right now the proposed parking tax is still very much in the concept phase but downtown businesses and customers are having some strong reactions.

"It is already a couple of bucks to park for just a few hours," Aja Engels, who works downtown, said.

Engels added she thinks parking is already expensive and is frustrated by the possibility the cost could go up.

The proposed city parking tax would directly impact the companies that manage the parking lots and garages downtown but the worry is the tax would trickle down to the consumer.

Right now the city has no idea how much it might end up being but the Downtown Spokane Partnership estimates the increase could be anywhere from $10 to $100 per space per year.

"The garages and lots are getting so expensive that nothing is cheap. So why go downtown when the same restaurants are up north or in the valley," Polly Lang, who also works downtown, said.

People like Lang and Engels are the kind of people the Downtown Spokane Partnership is reaching out to. They have called people to action asking them to contact their city council members to voice their opposition to this proposed parking tax

"I think, perception wise, a parking tax, an additional increase if this got passed to the user is just a negative we don't need to have," Downtown Spokane Partnership President Marty Dickinson said.

Downtown businesses say they are worried if people have to pay more to park, they will spend less money in their stores or spend their money somewhere else.

"I think we would see more infrequent trips downtown. There going to try and pack more into their time downtown, instead of running downtown for a pair of socks or something like that. We wouldn't see them as often," Runner's Sole Manager Nate Kinghorn said.

The city will continue to discuss this tax on September 23. The council says if the tax passes the money would go towards transportation projects mostly in the downtown area.