Survey finds Hampton residents prioritize staff pay, mental-health and homelessness supports

City communications staff presented results of the annual budget preference survey, which collected 1,207 total responses across online and in-person sessions. Desia described outreach efforts to increase participation among groups that have been hard to reach and Robin McCormick summarized priority rankings: the public ranked staff compensation, mental-health supports and homeless services among the highest-priority operating requests, while many downtown capital projects and placemaking requests ranked lower.

Robin said the survey is a preference poll, not a formal vote, and acknowledged the online format often increases participation but reduces opportunity for back-and-forth explanation. "This is preference polling. It's not like, you know, a final vote on the budget," she said, and staff will use the results along with revenue estimates to prepare the manager's recommended budget, which will be released in two weeks. Council members suggested additional outreach ideas (mailers and targeted in-person engagement) to increase representativeness ahead of the formal budget hearings.