GREENFIELD, Ind. -- Gov. Mitch Daniels on Monday launched a tour of seven counties to persuade residents that paying a new tax to help finance an Indianapolis Colts stadium would be in their interest.

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Video: Meeting Draws Mostly Anti-Tax Crowd
Slideshow: See Proposed Stadium
Discussion: What Do You Think?

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The tour started in Hancock County with a town-hall-style meeting at the courthouse annex in Greenfield, where most of the attendees were against the plan to implement a 1 percent restaurant tax in seven "doughnut" counties bordering Marion County.

Some of the attendees told the governor that taxing the counties to help pay for an Indianapolis project was extortion, RTV6's Norman Cox reported.

"The way to bring in revenue is to have substantive jobs, not to tax residents for entertainment purposes. Raising taxes for entertainment is silly," said Pamela Bickel, of Hancock County's Willow Branch, during the meeting.

A law passed by the state Legislature allows the seven counties and Marion County -- which includes Indianapolis -- to raise certain taxes to fund the stadium and an expansion of the Indiana Convention Center. The bulk of the money would come from Marion County, which is being asked to raise -- among other items -- its food-and-beverage tax from 1 percent to 2 percent.

Daniels told the crowd that he thinks the project will help the economy in all of central Indiana and that the restaurant tax is a fair method. He said 14,000 Hancock County residents work in Indianapolis and benefit from its prosperity.

"I think that it's a reasonable point to make that there's not just an indirect, but a direct, benefit," Daniels said.

Estimates show the restaurant tax would raise $647,000 per year in Hancock County. Half of the money would go to the stadium and convention center projects, and the rest would go to local projects.

Jerry Walker, of Greenfield, told Daniels that polls indicate that Indiana residents would prefer raising money by allowing slot machines at horse-racing tracks rather than tax increases.

Daniels answered that legislators wouldn't have approved expanded gambling. Daniels also said he believes gambling money belongs to the whole state, and that the stadium project is something for which central Indiana should pay.

"I wasn't going to support taxing a Bears fan in Hobart or a Bengals fan in Aurora," Daniels said.

Political leaders in Hancock County downplayed the overwhelmingly anti-tax sentiment expressed at the meeting, saying that tax opponents always turn out to such gatherings in stronger numbers. Those leaders said they believe the county council will approve the tax when it meets Wednesday, Cox reported.

The governor also met with people in Shelby County on Monday evening.

On Tuesday, Daniels will be in Boone and Hamilton counties. Wednesday, he will be in Hendricks County. On Thursday, he will make stops in Morgan and Johnson counties.

Meanwhile, the first step in funding the new Colts stadium has been passed, but only by a slim margin.

Monday night, the Morgan County council voted 4-3 in favor of a new 1 percent food and beverage tax intended to fund a new home for the Colts and an expanded convention center.

Local governments surrounding Marion County must approve the tax. The latest plans put the cost at $1 billion.

This was the first reading. It must be approved three times for passage. The next reading is next Monday night.