City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2009 08 11

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PAGE TWO SUBJECT: OPTIONS FOR REDUCING THE GAP BETWEEN GENERAL FUND REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES DATE: AUGUST 11, 2009 Public Involvement. Also based on Council's direction, during March and April the City Manager met with various groups and held public meetings to discuss the Long -Term Financial Plan for the City. This was done to seek feedback on the City's current budget, any services or programs that may be considered unnecessary, additional services or infrastructure that may be desired beyond the current budget capacity, future funding needs and potential support for additional revenue sources. The City Manager met with the Business Retention and Development (BRaD) Committee, Downtown Business Association (DBA), Seniors, the Lions Club, the Chamber of Commerce, held a CEO Forum and two public meetings to solicit comments from residents and Louisville Boards and Commissions. A comment sheet handout was provided at each meeting seeking further input. While the results should not be considered a statistically valid random sample, the responses on the 76 comment sheets that participants returned reflect that 50% said they would pay additional taxes to help resolve the City's budget shortfall, 14% said they would not pay additional taxes and 33% did not respond to the question. To provide statistically valid information on this topic, staff contracted the National Research Center from Boulder to conduct a formal survey on Louisville registered voters' willingness to support either cuts in service levels or various tax and fee increases to resolve the budget shortfall. The results of that survey can be found on the City's website and will be discussed in more detail during the Council's August 18 regular meeting. The key results of the survey are summarized below: Financial Issues Survey Results NRC sent out 1,000 surveys to a scientific sample of Louisville registered voters and received 508 responses. 98% of respondents think the quality of life in Louisville is excellent or good 81% think the value of services for the taxes paid to the City is good to excellent 63% and 64% respectively feel that the property tax and sales tax rates are about right 54% would rather see service levels reduced to balance the budget Depending on how the question is asked, 51% to 65% of respondents would support reducing community events if the City had to reduce services to cut costs Depending on how the question is asked, 48% to 59% of respondents would support reducing open space maintenance /acquisition if the City had to reduce services to cut costs 49% or fewer of respondents would support reducing other services If the City asked voters to approve a tax increase to cover rising costs and the amount of revenue raised from each tax or fee was equal, 62% of respondents said they would support a residential building use tax, 48% said they would support a transportation fee and 46% said they would support a consumer use tax.