01/13/1992 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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e 3. Do citizens favor additional expenditures for affordable housing construction, community policing, improved fire department re- sponse time, a new library, and/or enhanced tourism and arts pro- grams? 4. Is there support for new revenues to balance the budget or pay for services? What revenues are considered most desirable? Least desirable? Is there support to decrease taxes but increase user fees for a service? Mr. Weeks described the three instruments used to gather public information. He said there are two categories of data collection instruments: those that are administered in a manner intended to produce a statistically representa- tive sample and those which are not administered in that fashion. The first instrument is called "Ivory." It is a basic questionnaire that tends to produce an exaggerated picture of public support for programs. It would likewise produce information about user fees and other subjects in this man- ner. The advantage, he said, is that it is easy to administer and has a high response rate. The second instrument used, "Blue," included information about service costs. It also asked questions about the level of user fees one wishes to pay. With this additional information, the instrument provided results that were more realistic. e II BOB" (build your own budget), the third instrument, presented the $8 million projected deficit and then provided respondents an opportunity to select any or all service enhancements. In addition, respondents could reduce any of 40 services; or they could choose revenues. Mr. Weeks said three instruments were used because the information requested was voluminous. Also, using BOB was risky; if BOB failed to draw an adequate response rate, there would still be enough information from the other two instruments to draw conclusions. Mr. Weeks said that the instruments each provided a separate piece of information. Together they provided a larger, more textured picture. He noted the response rates (73, 70, and 53 percent, respectively) were unusually high. The margin errors were as follows: 5 percent for Ivory, 6 percent for Blue, and 7 percent for BOB. Mr. Weeks noted that the tabloid and workshops were not administered with the expectation that a statistically representative sample would be obtained. Instead, it was an important means by which the City could engage in a con- versation with as many citizens as wanted to participate. He said 1,052 people responded with the tabloid. The workshop process involved 78 groups, generally with six to nine people in a group. Mr. Weeks reviewed responses to the first question from all three instru- ments. Seventy-five percent of BOB respondents favored a combination of approaches to solve the budget deficit. Only 10 percent chose service reduc- tions only, and 13.4 percent balanced the budget exclusively through the use of additional revenue. Both the tabloid and the workshop process yielded e MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 13, 1992 Page 2