New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno is proposing an $850-per-float fee for Mardi Gras krewes, to help cover the city's cost of sanitation, public safety, and other parade season-related expenses.
Mardi Gras is the greatest free show on Earth, but it is not free for the people who put on the show, or the city that hosts it.
Tulane economist Toni Weiss says Mardi Gras does bring in millions.
"That money generates a lot of tax dollars," she says, but the city is also splitting those dollars with other groups.
"Those tax dollars flow both to city government and also to the convention center and the Superdome," Weiss explained.
The city says it actually spends about $4 million more on Mardi Gras than it takes in.
The $850-per-float fee is what the city came up with, instead of charging each krewe member $25. Either plan would still not create enough revenue to cover the city's Mardi Gras shortfall.
