2009 Policy Survey Results (Financial Issues)

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City of Louisville Policy Survey August 2009 Summary of Results Survey Background and Methods Many jurisdictions are facing tough decisions due to the current economic climate and are eliciting feedback from residents to aid in decision-making. The City of Louisville 2009 Policy Survey provided registered voters the opportunity to give feedback to the government on budgeting decisions and resource allocation. The survey asked respondents their opinions about the tradeoffs between reducing service levels and raising or implementing taxes or fees to cover potential budget shortfalls. A randomly selected sample of 1,000 registered voters within Louisville were mailed the survey. Of these, 993 were delivered to occupied households.A total of 508 completed surveys were received, for a response rate of 51%. Survey results were weighted so that respondent age and gender were represented in the proportions reflective of the entire voter population. The survey packet was four-pages in length. The first two pages contained a letter from the mayor inviting participation,background information about City operations and finances and information about current and potential taxes and fees and the costs associated with each. The last two pages were devoted to the survey questions (see Appendix D:Survey Instrument). Typical surveys are used to gather the opinions of the general population based on their existing knowledge or brief description on the survey. The 2009 Louisville Policy Survey sought to gather the opinions of registered voters who also were given the opportunity to become educated on the issues covered in the survey prior to providing their feedback. Therefore, the results discussed on the following pages are not intended to represent the views of all registered voters in the City,but they might suggest what other registered voters who are educated on the issues might think. Even though all respondents to the survey were provided the chance to educate themselves on the subject matter,it is understandable that not everyone had time to do so. More than half of respondents reported reading all the materials, about a quarter read most of the materials, 1 in 10 read some of the materials and only 4% said they did not read any of the materials. Understanding the Results Following the summary of results, tables showing the frequency distributions (the percent giving each possible response to a particular question) are presented in the body of the report. The majority of the tables in the body of the report display the responses from respondents who had an opinion about a specific item (and did not select"don't know"). A complete set of frequencies for each survey question that included a"don't know" response is presented in Appendix A: Complete Set of Frequencies. The 95 percent confidence level for this survey is generally no greater than plus or minus four percentage points around any given percent reported for the entire sample (508). s For some questions,respondents were permitted to select multiple responses. When the total Lj exceeds 100%in a table for a multiple response question,it is because some respondents are counted in multiple categories. When a table for a question that only permitted a single response does not total to exactly 100%,it is due to the customary practice of rounding percentages to the o nearest whole number. ° 0 Report of Results 1