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City's online budget poll showed strong support for additional police and tech upgrades, staff says
Summary
City staff presented "I Value" polling results showing more than 1,000 online respondents and support for adding five officers, technology upgrades, and mixed views on trash fee increases; staff noted online polling underrepresents some zip codes and age groups.
Robin McCormick presented results from the city's "I Value" citizen budget polling, which ran online for nearly two weeks and included three in-person sessions.
"We did have more than 1000 people," McCormick said, noting the online responses dominated the dataset. Key findings included strong support — 93 percent — for adding five police officers funded in FY18 (one-time startup costs were explained as part of the question) and 85 percent support for recurring technology upgrades. On fees, 66 percent of respondents favored keeping current trash and recycling services at a slightly higher user fee, though about a third were willing to consider reductions in service.
Staff cautioned the council that online polling tends to underrepresent some demographics and certain zip codes; they recommended additional outreach to achieve broader representation and said they would post detailed data and a synopsis of open-ended comments.
