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Council approves $15,000 citizen survey to gauge appetite for revenue options
Summary
Council approved a $15,000 telephone survey to gauge voter support for potential revenue measures; High Ground Public Affairs will conduct a live‑operator survey of 300 registered voters with an estimated 15‑minute average interview.
Kingman — The Kingman City Council on Tuesday approved a $15,000 contract with High Ground Public Affairs to conduct a citizen survey testing voter appetite for potential revenue options.
City Manager Tim Walsh and High Ground senior vice president Paul Benz described a proposed live‑operator telephone survey targeting registered voters. The recommended plan calls for 300 completed interviews, balanced by age, party and geography to reflect the city electorate; Benz said a 300‑respondent sample produces an approximate margin of error of ±5.5 percentage points. The interview instrument was described as roughly 15 minutes and designed to test multiple funding options (property tax, sales tax and other options) and to use rotation and reason‑testing to avoid bias from asking multiple proposals sequentially.
Council members discussed sample size and length. Some members suggested a larger, shorter survey (400 respondents at 10 minutes); others supported the vendor’s recommended 15‑minute, 300‑respondent approach. After discussion, the council approved the vendor’s recommended plan — 300 completed interviews at about 15 minutes each for $15,000, to be funded from the general fund.
Why it matters: The survey is intended to give council a statistically reliable measure of voter attitudes before committing staff and city resources to placing revenue measures on a ballot.
What comes next: High Ground will program the survey instrument with city input, conduct the interviews and report findings to council to inform the city’s budget and revenue deliberations.
