(PUEBLO, Colo.) — The City of Pueblo is debating raising taxes to help close an $ 8.6 million budget gap. With reserve money running out, City Council and the Mayor's office say all options are on the table. "I want the community to grow and I want Pueblo to prosper and the only way that we're going to be able to do that is if we continue with the times," Mayor Heather Graham said. City Council and the Mayor's office are looking for money-making alternatives to the 3.7% city sales tax rate, which currently makes up 70% of the city's revenue. ".5 goes to the Pueblo Economic Development Corp (PEDCO) and .2 goes to the Pueblo Police Department," Mayor Graham explained. "The city really runs on 3%. That's three pennies for every dollar that's spent in the community. That's not a lot of money." This chart shows the City of Pueblo's current sales tax. Mayor Graham told FOX21 News that Pueblo has some of the lowest sales tax rates in the state. Which is why she wants to increase it for the first time in decades. "Sales tax in the city has not been raised in like 60 years, so I think that this has kind of been a long time coming," Mayor Graham said. An increase of between .05% and .50% could result in an additional 30 cents to 1$ for every $200 spent by consumers. This chart shows the potential sales tax increase. Another option the city is considering is a small tax on grocery items, or a food consumption tax, which Mayor Graham said is already in place in many other Colorado cities. "The reason I like taxing the food is that it doesn't affect the low-income people on food stamps, they will not be taxed," Mayor Graham explained. This chart shows the impact of a proposed food consumption tax in the City of Pueblo The proposed grocery tax could add anywhere from $1 to $7.40 to an average $200 grocery bill, but not everyone is on board. "We can put another $15 million in the bank just by the simple act of raising taxes, which obviously City Council can't do what the voters can do, but in reality, the economic well-being of the community can be directly tied to their development, their residential development, commercial development, which in turn grows the economy, increases the tax base and all of a sudden we have enough money to do the things that we need to do on infrastructure," explained President Mark Aliff, City Council Representative at Large. "So do we have this dire need to raise taxes or do we have this dire need to finally tear down all the barriers that are standing in the way of this community moving forward to positive growth." President Aliff is not the only council member interested in exploring other options. "I'm not going back to my constituents asking for more money, and I'm not supporting any raise increases on taxes at all," said Roger Gomez, City Council District 4 Representative. Meanwhile, City Council Representative at Large Dennis Flores is proposing a tourism tax. "I really think we should be going after tourism," Councilman Flores explained. "Anytime a tourist stops in Pueblo, Colorado, what do they do, rent a hotel room, but that's money that is normally not within our control. That's where I think we have the greatest opportunity, get people off of I-25 and Highway 50 and come to spend their money here." Mayor Graham thinks the city should focus on both growing development and finding other ways to boost revenue like raising taxes. If they do decide to go that route, voters need to approve it and the city must have the ballot language ready by August. Pueblo has $21 million in reserve funds and should be okay through 2026. After that, Mayor Heather Graham told FOX21 News that if they do not start looking at other revenue sources, the city will be in big trouble.