CITY OF VANCOUVER
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: |
February 25, 2005 | |
Author: |
Annette Klein | |
Phone No.: |
873-7789 | |
RTS No.: |
04931 | |
CC File No.: |
1605 | |
Meeting Date: |
March 15, 2005 |
TO: |
City Council |
FROM: |
General Manager of Corporate Services/Director of Finance |
SUBJECT: |
2005 Operating Budget: Public Consultation |
INFORMATION
This report is submitted for the INFORMATION of City Council
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to provide information on the results of the public consultation process conducted for the 2005 Operating Budget.
BACKGROUND
On December 14, 2004, Council instructed the City Manager to implement a public consultation initiative related to the service levels and taxation choices required to balance the 2005 Operating Budget. The process involved three components:
· a public opinion survey was undertaken by Mustel Group, a local polling company. The survey sought the opinions of 636 Vancouver residents on a range of service and taxation options (APPENDIX 2).
· The “City Choices 2005” process involving an information flyer, a message line and e-mail box for comments and a mini-questionnaire that could be faxed or mailed back to the City. This flyer, printed in English and Chinese, was also made available on the City's website where the questionnaire could be completed on-line (APPENDIX 1).
· A series of budget consultation meetings were arranged by the Mayor between February 7, 2005 and February 24, 2005 (APPENDIX 3).
DISCUSSION
The results of the 2005 Operating Budget public participation process is summarized as follows.
a) Telephone Survey
Attached is the report from Mustel Group outlining the results of the public poll and comparing the results with those from similar surveys done in previous years. The key findings from the telephone survey are:
Most Important Issues Facing the City
Residents have identified Transportation (37% “total mentions”), Crime (35% “total mentions”), and Social issues (34% “total mentions”) as the most important issues facing the City. “Total mentions” refers to the number of responses by topic provided by those surveyed when asked what are the most important issues facing the City of Vancouver.
Value and Satisfaction in City Services:
62% of respondents felt that they receive fairly good to very good value for City Services, while 83% of respondents are somewhat to very satisfied with City Services.
Existing Property Taxes
51% of residents feel that their property taxes are too high or much too high while 45% of residents feel that their taxes are about right or too low.
Acceptance for Tax Increase
86% would accept a 2% tax increase, 72% would accept a 4% tax increase, while 59% would accept a 6% tax increase.
In 2005, a number of new questions were added to the survey to obtain input from public on the new revenues and savings available to the City in 2005 and priorities around policing resources. These include:
Additional Gaming Revenue
Residents supported utilizing additional gaming revenue as follows: 89% on basic municipal services to reduced taxes, 80% on existing community services and cultural programs to reduce taxes, and 79% to enhance community services and community programs. When asked which would be a first priority, 72% chose to reduce taxes (42% basic services and 30% existing community services and cultural programs) while 16% preferred to enhance or add new community services and cultural programs.
GST Savings
73% of residents preferred GST savings to be applied to both maintain and repair of existing infrastructure and to build new infrastructure.
Priority Policing Services
44% of residents placed priority on enhancing the level of street level patrol by police officers (44%), while an almost equal share showed a preference for supporting community policing centres (22%) and improved criminal investigations (20%). 7% of residents preferred more traffic enforcement.
Increased Police Staffing Levels:
72% of residents supported an increase in police staffing levels including civilian support staff, while 20% of residents did not support a staffing increase.
· For those that supported an increase:
o 29% supported 25 additional officers, including the associated support staff,
o 33% supported 50 additional officers, including the associated support staff,
o 9% supported 75 additional officers, including the associated support staff.
o 15% supported 100 additional officers, including the associated support staff, and
Looking at support cumulatively:
o 86% of 25 officers
o 57% supported an increase of 50 officers
o 24% supported an increase of 75 officers
o 15% supported an increase of 100 officers
· With regards to the willingness to pay for additional resources through taxation
o 28% were willing to pay 0.7% of additional taxes (25 officers),
o 32% were willing to pay 1.4% of additional taxes (50 officers),
o 11% were willing to pay 2.1% of additional taxes (75 officers),
o 16% were willing to pay 3.2% of additional taxes (100 officers),
Looking at support cumulatively:
o 87% willing to pay 0.7% of additional taxes (25 officers),
o 59% were willing to pay 1.4% of additional taxes (50 officers),
o 27% were willing to pay 2.1% of additional taxes (75 officers),
o 16% were willing to pay 3.2% of additional taxes (100 officers),
Mustel Group will provide a short presentation to Council on March 15, 2005, on the findings from the
“2005 Budget Allocation Study – Wave 7”.
b) City Choices Flyer:
The 2005 City Choices Flyer, titled “Your City Your Choices”, was distributed by the Vancouver Courier, the Chinese language Ming Pao and was available on the City’s website and in the City’s libraries and recreation and community centres. When reviewing the results of the City Choices Survey, one should keep in mind that the survey is self selecting. This means that the results are not statistically reliable and reflect only the opinions of those who complete the survey. Further the ability to submit multiple responses from individuals may also distort results.
Overall, the City received 1,000 responses, of which 152 were received from individuals participating in the Mayors Forums (described in the section below).
Appendix 1 includes the detailed results from the survey. Key findings from the City Choices survey are:
Acceptance for Tax Increase
Tolerance for a tax increases is not as high as those surveyed by Mustel Group, partly due to the way the question was asked. Mustel Group asks about tolerance while the City Choices flyer ask what tax increase would you select.
62% chose 2% or more of a tax increase, 36% chose 4% or more of a tax increase, while 16% would accept a 6% tax increase. Those that participated in the Mayors meetings had slightly different results at 79% choosing 2% or more of a tax increase, 56% choosing 4% or more of a tax increase, while 28% choosing a 6% tax increase. A significant difference between the two groups is that 25% of the City Choices respondents chose a 0% tax increase while only 5% of those attending the public meetings chose a 0% tax increase.
As with the public opinion survey, a number of new questions were added to the survey to obtain input from public on the new revenues and savings available to the City in 2005 and priorities around policing resources. These include:
Additional Gaming Revenue
The survey asked how residents would like to utilize the additional gaming revenue. 53% chose to reduce taxes (32% would apply to basic services and 21% would apply to existing community services and cultural programs) while 15% preferred to enhance or add new community services and cultural programs.
Once again there seemed to be a difference in results from those that attended the Mayor’s meetings. 47% chose to reduce taxes (10% would apply to basic services and 37% would apply to existing community services and cultural programs) while 25% preferred to enhance or add new community services and cultural programs
GST Savings
63% of respondents preferred that the GST savings to be applied to both maintain and repair of existing infrastructure and to build new infrastructure. The main difference between the City Choices survey and the Mustel Group survey is that the City Choices respondents placed more emphasis on maintaining and repairing existing infrastructure (28% versus 18%).
Priority Policing Services
37% of residents placed priority on enhancing the level of street level patrol by police officers, 32% indicated more support for community policing centres, 10% chose improved criminal investigations, while 7% of residents preferred more traffic enforcement.
Increased Police Staffing Levels:
64% of residents supported an increase in police staffing levels including civilian support staff, while 32% of residents did not support a staffing increase.
· For those that supported an increase:
o 19% supported 25 additional officers, including the associated support staff,
o 19% supported 50 additional officers, including the associated support staff,
o 19% supported 100 additional officers, including the associated support staff, and
o 9% supported 75 additional officers, including the associated support staff.
Looking at support cumulatively:
o 66% supported 25 additional officers
o 47% supported 50 additional officers
o 28% supported 75 additional officers
o 19% supported 100 additional officers
· With regards to the willingness to pay for additional resources through taxation
o 22% were willing to pay 0.7% of additional taxes (25 officers)
o 18% were willing to pay 1.4% of additional taxes (50 officers)
o 10% were willing to pay 2.1% of additional taxes (75 officers)
o 16% were willing to pay 3.2% of additional taxes (100 officers)
Looking at support cumulatively:
o 66% willing to pay 0.7% of additional taxes (25 officers),
o 44% were willing to pay 1.4% of additional taxes (50 officers),
o 26% were willing to pay 2.1% of additional taxes (75 officers),
o 16% were willing to pay 3.2% of additional taxes (100 officers),
Below is a table comparing the results of the two surveys for key questions:
Mustel
|
City Choices
| |
Acceptance for Tax Increase |
86% would accept a 2% tax increase 72% would accept a 4% tax increase 59% would accept a 6% tax increase |
62% chose 2% or more of a tax increase 36% chose 4% or more of a tax increase 16% chose a 6% tax increase. 25% chose a 0% tax increase Note – asked to select a tax increase not whether they accept a tax increase |
Additional Gaming Revenue |
72% - reduce taxes (42% basic services and 30% existing community services and cultural programs) 16% to enhance or add new community services and cultural programs. Overall – 46% towards community services and cultural programs |
53% - reduce taxes (32% basic services and 21% existing community services and cultural programs) 15% preferred to enhance or add new community services and cultural programs. Overall – 36% towards community services and cultural programs |
GST Savings |
73% - maintain and repair of existing infrastructure and to build new infrastructure. |
63% - maintain and repair of existing infrastructure and to build new infrastructure. |
Policing Service Priorities |
44% Patrol
|
37% Patrol
|
Support for Increased Policing Services |
72% Yes |
64% Yes |
If Yes – How Many Officers? |
86% 25 officers
|
66% 25 officers
|
If Yes – What is the Willingness to Pay?? |
87% - 0.7% (25 officers)
|
66% - 0.7% (25 officers)
|
c) Mayor’s 2005 Operating Budget Meetings:
At the direction of Vancouver City Council, the Mayor’s Office engaged city residents in a community consultation program on City of Vancouver’s 2005 operating budget. The consultation program consisted of 10 meetings with community organizations and 7 meetings that were open to the public at community centers. Approximately 300 residents participated in these meetings.
Ten meetings were held with specific community groups within the City of Vancouver including:
· Business Improvement Areas
· Seniors
· Arts Community
· Youth
· Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-gendered Community
· Women
· Organizations delivering Social Programs
· Multi-cultural Community
· Chinese Community
· Vancouver Board of Trade
Seven public meetings were held at the following community centres:
· Hastings
· Dunbar
· West End
· Kitsilano
· Kensington
· Mount Pleasant
· Marpole.
Attached is a report prepared by the Mayor’s Office on the results of the Mayor’s Meetings. Some of the themes that were touched on by the participants include:
· Social Infrastructure - many participants felt that it is important that the Social Infrastructure of City be supported especially in light of provincial cuts.
· Policing Staffing Request – Many participants expressed their support for additional policing resources at the street level (patrol) as well support for Community Policing Centres. Some participants indicated that by supporting of social, community and cultural services, the overall need for policing may be reduced.
· New Gaming Revenue – Though many comments were received, generally, participants favoured the use of new gaming revenue to support Vancouver’s social, community and cultural programs.
· Taxation – there was no consensus on what the 2005 tax increase should be, however, the Business Improvement Associations and the Board of Trade both expressed concern over the relatively high tax rate faced by Commercial properties relative to Residential properties.
CONCLUSION
The 2005 Operating Budget included a three staged public participation process - a telephone survey, City Choices flyer and questionnaire, and Mayor’s meetings. The results of the these three processes are enclosed in this report.
- - - - -
APPENDIX 1 – CITY CHOICES NEWSPAPER FLYER – “Your City Your Choices”
Basic Statistics and Background of City Choices Survey:
City Choices 2005 flyer was distributed through 2 community newspapers via mail, community centres, branch libraries and the City Website.
In total, there were 1,000 responses to the survey.
Out of the 1,000:
· 545 completed via the website
· 303 completed via mail or fax
· 152 completed via public forums
Points to keep in mind when interpreting the results:
· the survey results are not statistically significant – no weighting of the responses for demographics as the data is “raw”
· the responses may represent interests associated with facilities where the survey was picked up to be filled out
· the responses were received from common fax numbers, arrived in batches via mail, and some results from the website came from common IP addresses
· not all the questionnaires were completely filled out as some respondents did not complete one or more questions.
Demographics:
Respondents were evenly distributed from the various regions of the City.
Where do you live? |
Results |
· Downtown |
17% |
· Northwest |
19% |
· Northeast |
19% |
· Southwest |
21% |
· Southeast |
21% |
· Not specified |
3% |
A majority of the respondents have lived in Vancouver for more than 10 years, are between the age of 45-64, own a home and have an assessed home value of between $200,000-$599,999.
How long have you lived in the City of Vancouver? |
Results |
· 5 years or less |
11% |
· 6-10 years |
11% |
· More than 10 years |
75% |
· No Answer |
3% |
What is your Age? |
Results |
· 18-44 |
39% |
· 45-64 |
44% |
· 65 years or older |
13% |
· No Answer |
4% |
Do you own or rent? |
Results |
· Rent |
21% |
· Own |
69% |
· No Answer/Other |
11% |
If you own, what is the assessed value of your home closest to? |
Results |
· $0-$199,999 |
5% |
· $200,000-$399,999 |
27% |
· $400,000-$599,999 |
25% |
· $600,000 or more |
19% |
· Blank |
25% |
RESULTS
QUESTION 1 – What level of property tax increase are you willing to accept?
The results indicate that most (87% in total) of the respondents would be in favour of a 0% increase in property tax levels. A majority (62% in total) would also support a 2% increase in property tax levels.
If we extract the results from just the public forum respondents, it indicates that most (84% in total) of the respondents would be in favour of a 0% increase in property tax levels. A majority (79% in total) would also support a 2% increase in property taxes. However, 56% of the respondents would not be against a 4% increase in property taxes.
Comparison of Area to Tax Increase Support
When comparing the various areas that the respondents live in to their choice of preferred tax increase, the conclusion is that all areas support a 2% increase to taxes.
QUESTION 2 – What are your service area priorities?
The Top 5 Areas to Safeguard
The overlapping area that the respondents from both surveys want to safeguard as a top choice is public safety.
City Choices |
Mustel Group |
Parks |
Public Safety |
Public Safety |
Planning & Development |
Library Services |
Streets & Traffic |
Community/Social Services |
Library Services |
Streets/Traffic |
Community/Social Services |
The Top 5 Areas to Cut
The overlapping area that the respondents from both surveys want to cut as a top choice is cultural services. Please note that support/legislative services was not offered as an option in the Mustel Group survey.
City Choices |
Mustel Group |
Support/Legislative |
Cultural Services |
Cultural Services |
Community/Social Services |
Planning/Development |
Parks |
Streets/Traffic |
Streets/Traffic |
Community/Social Services |
Library Services |
Top 5 Areas to Enhance
The overlapping area that the respondents from both surveys want to enhance as a top priority is public safety.
City Choices |
Mustel Group |
Parks |
Public Safety |
Public Safety |
Community/Social Services |
Community/Social Services |
Planning/Development |
Library Services |
Streets/Traffic |
Streets/Traffic |
Library Services |
QUESTION 3 – On which one of the following do you prefer to spend additional gaming revenues?
Results from this question indicate that 32% of the total respondents would prefer that the additional gaming revenues be used to fund basic services in order to reduce taxes.
However, if the results from only the public forums were extracted, the results would indicate that 37% of the respondents from the public forums would prefer the gaming revenues to be used to fund existing programs leading to reduced tax rates. While 25% showed a preference to utilize the revenue to fund new and/or enhanced community, social, and cultural programs.
QUESTION 4 – How would you like to see the GST cost savings applied to infrastructure?
An overwhelming response from the City Choices survey of 63% of the respondents would support a combination of building new infrastructure as well as maintaining/repairing existing infrastructure. Interesting point to note is that the Mustel Group telephone survey had similar results of 73% in favour of the GST cost savings being applied to a combination of the two choices.
QUESTION 5 – What is your priority for policing areas?
Results from both City Choices and Mustel Group surveys indicate that enhanced street level patrol to be the top priority.
QUESTION 6 – Do you support increased police staffing levels including the associated civilian support staff needed?
Both the City Choices and Mustel Group survey results indicate that the respondents would be in support of additional policing staff.
|
|
City Choices |
Mustel |
Yes |
|
64% |
72% |
No |
32% |
20% | |
Blank |
4% |
8% | |
|
Total |
100% |
100% |
If respondents had answered yes to question 6, they were then asked to complete questions 6. a. and 6. b.
QUESTION 6.a. What increased levels for 2005 would you support?
The results indicate that most (66% in total) of the respondents would be in favour of at least an increase of 25 new officers at a cost of $3 million. 47% would also support a new expenditure of $6million for 50 new police officers and related civilian staff.
An interesting note to make is that when the results of the additional number of officers that were preferred, were compared to the area that the respondents came from, there was a clear indication that the downtown area respondents strongly supported additional 100 new officers.
City Choices vs. Mustel Group
If City Choices and Mustel Group results are compared, Mustel group respondents had a slightly higher support of 33% towards 50 new officers while City Choices was indifferent between the choice of additional 25 officers or 50 officers.
|
|
|
City Choices |
Mustel |
25 new officers |
|
|
19% |
29% |
50 new officers |
|
|
19% |
33% |
75 new officers |
9% |
9% | ||
100 new officers |
19% |
16% | ||
Blank |
34% |
13% | ||
|
|
Total |
100% |
100% |
QUESTION 6. b. – If required to increase taxes to pay for these additional policing services, what additional tax increase would you support?
The results indicate that most (66% in total) of the respondents would be in favour of at least an increase of 25 new officers at a 0.7% increase in taxes. 44% would also support 50 new officers at a 1.4% increase in taxes.
City Choices vs. Mustel Group
When respondents were asked this question with the additional information as to how tax rates would be affected, City Choices respondents favoured an increase of 25 officers at 0.7% increase, while the Mustel Group respondents favoured an addition of 50 officers at a rate of 1.4% increase in their taxes.
|
|
|
City Choices |
Mustel |
0.7% or 25 officers |
|
|
22% |
28% |
1.4% or 50 officers |
|
|
18% |
32% |
2.1% or 75 officers |
10% |
12% | ||
3.2% or 100 officers |
16% |
16% | ||
Blank |
34% |
12% | ||
|
|
Total |
100% |
100% |
CONCLUSION
· Overall, 87% (in total) of respondents of City Choices support a 0% increase in property tax rates; however, there is still a majority of respondents of 62% (in total) that would also support a 2% increase in property tax rates.
· City Choices results indicate that the respondents find public safety to be the priority service to safeguard and enhance, and have put support/legislative & cultural services to be the areas to cut if services were to be scaled down.
· Respondents would support the GST cost savings to be applied to a mix of building new infrastructure as well as maintaining/repairing existing infrastructure.
· 32% of the respondents support that additional gaming revenues be used to fund basic services in order to reduce taxes.
· 72% of the respondents support an increased level of police staffing and 66% support an addition of 25 new officers, with the downtown area respondents more inclined with supporting 100 new officers.
· City Choices and Mustel Group findings for comparable questions were on the most part consistent with each other.
* * * * *
Appendix 2 - 2005 Budget Allocation
Study Wave 7
Appendix 3 - Report on Mayor's Meetings
Community Consultation Meetings for the 2005 Budget
- Police Staffing issues
