Mayor Marv Teixeira wants to give an additional $10 million from Carson City to the V & T Railway in exchange for 5 percent of the project's revenue.
Teixeira will propose the plan to the Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the V & T Railway on March 3. He said he plans to put the idea on the ballot in November for an advisory vote if the commission approves it.
Carson City has so far given $21 million in sales and room taxes to the project that is expected to cost $55 million and be finished in 2011.
The additional money from Carson City would be raised through an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax.
Teixeira said the plan would not only recoup the money the city has invested but eventually begin to generate a significant profit.
The 18-mile tourist railroad is under construction and will run from Virginia City to Carson City when completed.