Memorandum 15-138 Town Hall Meeting and Online Survey Results

Memorandum 15-138

TO:                       Mayor Wythe and Homer City Council            

THROUGH:       Katie Koester, City Manager                

FROM:                 Patrick Lawrence, Assistant City Manager

DATE:                  August 5, 2015

SUBJECT:         Online Survey and Town Hall Meeting   

The purpose of this memo is to share the results of the Town Hall meeting and Online Survey discussing core services and new revenue prospects with the Mayor and Council.

Town Hall:

The Town Hall meeting was held July 20th in City Hall.  We had a great turn out with approximately 100 attendees.  The community members in attendance were provided an opportunity to share their opinions on City provided service and City departments.  Participants were broken up into 4 separate groups where they were given stickers to indicate “Level of Importance” and “Level of Service” of 51 City provided services and 12 City departments.  Department representatives and Council members were present in each group in order to answer questions community members had throughout the evening. The mood of the evening was very positive and constructive. Many thoughtful comments were made by the public, City representatives, and Council members.  If there was an overarching theme to the evening it was that the community enjoys and appreciates the vast majority of the services the City provides and is willing to incur new or increased taxes in order to pay for them.  

The 5 most ‘CRITICAL’ City provided services:

Fire Services and Protection
South Peninsula Haven House (Shelter & Child Advocacy Center Investigative Interviews)
Enforcement of all City, State, and Federal laws and COH ordinances
Emergency Medical Services (Ambulances)
Winter Road Maintenance (Snow Plowing, Snow Removal, Sanding, Culvert Clearing)

The 3 revenue streams the community is most ‘In Favor’ of:

Introduction of a Bed Tax (71% In Favor, 81% positive response)
Raising the Sales Tax Cap from $500 to $1,000 (64% In Favor, 80% positive response)
Reinstating the Seasonal Sales Tax  on Non-Prepared Foods (55% in Favor, 82% positive response)    

 If we solely look at positive responses and not just votes on the highest end it shifts slightly. This encompasses ‘In Favor’, ‘Mostly in Favor’, and ‘Somewhat in Favor’  

The 3 revenue streams with the most ‘Positive’ responses:

Raising the Sales Tax by 0.5% (85% positive response)
Reinstating Seasonal Sales Tax on Non-Prepared foods (82% positive response)
Introduction of a Bed Tax (81% positive response)

Online Survey:

The intent of this survey was to gather information from the public on which City-provided services are consider to be Core Services, where the public could tolerate reductions, and what, if any, new or increased taxes they would be in favor of supporting.  The survey was comprised of 5 questions and was open for 4 weeks.  Over that time period the survey received nearly 500 responses. As an interesting aside, this is about 40% of the total votes cast in the last municipal election.  The theme from the online survey is similar to the Town Hall meeting; we like our services and are willing to incur new or increased revenue streams to support them.  

Top 6 City-Provided Services

                      City Resident                                         Non-City Resident

Police and Public Safety                 1- Fire and EMS
Fire and EMS                                       2- Police and Public Safety
Winter Road Maintenance            3- Winter Road Maintenance               
Airport                                                   4- Airport
Summer Road Maintenance         5- Library
City Administration                          6-Parks and Rec

There were only 2 City-Provided services that 50% or more of the City residents recommended reducing. Both of these services combined represent an estimated 2% of the entire general fund.       

                              City Resident                                                Non-City Resident

Boards and Commissions (59%)            1- Boards and Commissions (58%)
City Support of Non-Profits (50%)       2- Planning and Zoning (53%)

When looking at revenue the theme was similar to the Town Hall.  Nearly 91% of City Residents and 94% of Non-City Residents were in favor of seeing some form of new revenue or increasing existing taxes in order to support City-Provided services.                                                                                                 

Introduction of a Bed Tax (65% City Resident ) (69% Non-City Resident)     
Ending the Seasonal Non-Prepared food Tax Holiday (47%CR)  (51%NCR)
Increasing Sales Tax Cap from $500 to $1,000 (40%CR)   (41%NCR)
Increasing Sales Tax (35%CR) (35%NCR)

We received 74 comments regarding cuts and 184 comments for additional revenue. Many of the comments are valuable and should be considered. There were a few themes that stood out: attracting new business to the area, not moving forward with new buildings and projects, increasing fines and fees library/harbor/parking/beach, increase of taxes that affect all people who use city services, sin taxes alcohol/ marijuana/tobacco/junk food, and many others.

Attached:

Town Hall Meeting Dot Exercise

Town Hall Meeting Key Pad Polling

Online Survey Data; As a Whole, City Resident, Non-City Resident