Somerset officials debate adding property-tax question, school and community-center options to draft survey

Participants in Somerset’s April 8 meeting reviewed a draft comprehensive-plan survey and debated whether to include a discrete option for “increasing property taxes,” how to collect school-district information and whether to list a community center as a standalone item.

The discussion centered on two competing aims: collecting useful, comparable data in the survey and avoiding the appearance that the city alone can directly control property-tax rates. "I just wanna have a little bit of a further discussion as I was going through this. I believe the first 1 was the taxes. Question," said Katie Snyder during the discussion about survey wording.

Supporters of adding a property-tax option argued the choice would make it easier to quantify how many residents identify taxes as a top concern and to spot whether long‑time residents are being priced out. Opponents cautioned that showing taxes as a leading bar on the survey's summary charts could lead residents to expect the city can fix the problem, even though multiple jurisdictions levy property taxes.

Speakers noted that several entities collect property taxes — school districts, county government and special districts such as fire and ambulance — and that state law controls some school-tax limits. The group discussed that including taxes as a selectable item could skew the distribution of respondents' other selections and that free-text responses would otherwise be scattered across many write-in entries.

Staff who will handle the survey results said they can break responses down by age cohort and other demographics to help the master-plan team interpret whether concerns are concentrated among particular groups. "I can take that data, and I can analyze. Yes. If if everybody that's 65 plus answered our taxes are so high, we're leaving. That's gonna be something that we need to look at," said Britney, a staff member who will process the survey results.

The group also reviewed questions about schools and recommended distinguishing between districts or giving a two-question approach so respondents can indicate which district(s) their children attend. Participants cited local school names repeatedly in the meeting while noting that some families use open enrollment and that split attendance (different elementary and high schools) is common. The draft questions referenced Blackhawk and Piedmont elementary schools and regional middle- and high-school options such as Sage Barn Middle School and Sturges Brown High School, and participants discussed whether to separate elementary, middle and high school fields.

On community facilities, the draft survey included a community-center item (question 21) and a related item under culture and education (question 25). Participants suggested the survey could allow respondents to indicate combined uses — for example, a community center that also functions as a senior center — and to use follow-up analysis to propose possible facility types only if the responses show strong interest.

No formal ordinance, resolution or vote on the survey wording was recorded in the discussion excerpt provided. A facilitator indicated the survey item on taxes would likely remain in the instrument for data collection and that the group would review results and presentation choices when compiling the comprehensive plan.

Next steps: staff will finalize the survey text, collect responses, and report back with analysis that can be sliced by age and school-district selections to inform how the master plan frames priorities.