Two Roanoke city councilmen want state lawmakers to hand out tax money for financially strapped cultural organizations in Roanoke's downtown, though it's too soon to tell whether their plan will be approved.

During a news conference Wednesday at Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke, Brian Wishneff and Sherman Lea said they plan to ask legislators for a larger chunk of Virginia's sales tax to help fund a new cultural district in downtown Roanoke. This area would encompass cultural organizations within the boundaries of Fifth Street, Wells Avenue, Williamson Road and Elm Avenue.

The councilmen's plan has two parts. One would ask the state to give Roanoke an additional one-third of the sales tax revenue it generates. Roanoke currently receives 1 percent of Virginia's 5 percent tax.

That addition, they estimated, would generate about $7 million. Roanoke could invest this money directly into the city's cultural organizations located in this district, including Center in the Square.

The second part of the plan would benefit local artists. It would require that sales of artists' work within the cultural district be exempt from Virginia's sales tax. Likewise, those artists who live in the cultural district would receive a tax break on sales of their merchandise. Localities also would use this tax funding to market the district to artists.

The councilmen are proposing this same tax funding program for Norfolk.

Providing opportunities for artists and cultural groups could revitalize Roanoke, a city that already lacks financial sources because annexation is prohibited in the state, the councilmen said. Annexation allows cities to include adjacent counties in the population base, creating larger sources of funding for projects.

Raleigh, N.C., has a population four times larger than Roanoke's because it can annex neighboring communities, Wishneff and Lea said.

The councilmen also compared state funding for the arts in Roanoke with other localities. Roanoke's 15 cultural organizations downtown received $2.5 million last year. In Richmond, the science and art museums received more than $40 million, they said.

"Can we maintain what we've built? Without some significant state help, it's going to be a challenge," Wishneff said.

It's not a new strategy to call for state tax funds to help cultural causes.

Several years ago, some Roanoke groups wanted to create the Blue Ridge Assets District. It would have increased the sales tax to give financial support to organizations such as the Mill Mountain Zoo.

Approval of this new district required a public referendum, but local legislators did not support it, said Wayne Strickland, executive director of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission.

Vice Mayor David Trinkle said he has considered exploring a similar way to use tax sources to generate revenue for the arts. He called funding for cultural groups "a particular issue close to my heart."

But he said he wished Lea and Wishneff had shared their ideas with the city council before announcing them publicly.

Blacksburg's downtown recently was designated by the state as an arts district, though the financial incentives that it will offer haven't been determined, said Blacksburg Town Manager Marc Verniel.

Wishneff and Lea next will talk with local legislators about whether their proposal could be considered in the General Assembly.

There's no way of knowing now whether lawmakers would approve it, but Del. William Fralin, R-Roanoke, said the proposal is worth further discussion. He would not predict how it would fare if introduced in the General Assembly.

"I think they made some good points about some of the inequity of the funding in relation to what Richmond gets," Fralin said.

He said tax incentives can be "a useful tool" to revitalize urban centers.

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, was noncommittal on the Wishneff and Lee proposal, but he said with state revenue growth slowing, "It will be difficult to implement this year."

Edwards added that some lawmakers may not like the idea of letting city governments establish the process for distributing the new sales tax revenue.

Staff writer Michael Sluss contributed to this report.