2008-08-04 Study Session Dr. Terry Jones survey

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8. Given three alternatives of how to handle budget shortfalls: all cuts, all tax increase, half and half, none of the three choices received the majority. Least favored was all service cuts. All tax increase and half/half received equal support. None received a majority of support. 9. Of the proposed tax increases, the increase of ¼ cent increase of University City’s sales tax had the strongest support, sixty–nine percent. 10. Favoring a ten cents property tax increase had the next support, fifty-five percent. 11. Favoring a 20 cents property tax increase had a weak support of thirty-six percent. 12. Municipal Parking lot fee had a sixty-four percent agreement but was strongly opposed by the thirty-four and younger. 13. Whether Fire/EMS should be eliminated. It was questioned as to whether people understood there would not be a total elimination of the Fire/EMS, but rather a transfer to a district or the formation of a new district to handle emergencies. Seventy-two percent opposed the elimination. 14. Rating of City’s performance in providing Municipal Services. Ratings of st nd excellent/good were higher in the 1and 2 ward. They were higher with residents who have been in the City ten years or less. 15. The City’s communication received fairly equal ratings across all three wards. It was on the average of fifty-seven percent excellent/good rating. 16. The spending effectiveness received mixed marks. It was fairly equally distributed between excellent/good and fair/poor in all three wards. 17. The residents’ use of the City’s web site for information was very low. 18. The City Manager Weekly E-mail had an awareness of only eleven percent with another seven percent being somewhat aware. 19. & 20 were not direct questions asked in the questionnaire of July 7, 2008, but was a summation of overall questions. City’s Direction – fifty-four percent said the City was going in the right direction. Implications were more education/discussion was needed before making budget policy decisions. If a tax increase was to e proposed, special election provides better chance than at a general election. The methodology allows a sampling error at the nine-five percent confidence level, plus- or-minus five percent. The sampling error is plus-or minus eight percent for estimates based on a portion of the sample. COUNCIL COMMENTS Mr. Glickert asked about the age of residents contacted in order to evaluate age in relation to being pessimistic or optimistic. He also asked Dr. Jones if he knew of the length of time each had lived in University City. Dr. Jones did not have the information with him but would send it by email. Mr. Glickert also asked Dr. Jones if it was taken into account the use of cell phones over land-lines. Dr. Jones stated that it does not presently affect survey results. Mr. Glickert encouraged Council and Management to pursue strategic plans of Economic Development Ms. Ricci asked of the process of choosing people to survey. Dr. Jones stated that he goes by registered voters with a listed telephone number. He had equal numbers from each ward. There would be ten attempts made in a period of two days to reach resident and if not reached it would not count as a number in the survey. Dr. Jones stated the City Manager guided his questions to cover six areas. Ms. Ricci stated that the total City operation should be reviewed before considering a tax increase.