Survey results suggest taxpayers want to pay less to support police service
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on October 18, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
A survey conducted by the City of Lethbridge during the summer seeking residents’ opinions about funding priorities show residents want to pay less property taxes to support the Lethbridge Police Service.
A total of 544 respondents support an increase while 592 want funding reduced. The total of respondents preferring funding to remain the same was 270.
That information is one of the findings in a report that will be presented this morning to the Economic Standing Policy Committee meeting of city council by communications and engagement manager Tara Grindle.
The SPC consists of all members of city council. The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. in council chambers.
From Aug. 17 until Sept. 9, the City gave residents a chance to have their say on how the next four-year budget will be prioritized.
The survey was conducted through an online budget allocation tool that let residents pick amounts to either increase or decrease their preferred tax support for various City departments. They could also choose to leave funding alone.
The online platform containing the survey had 3,143 visitors and 1,453 participants. Eighty-eight per cent of site visitors completed at least 25 per cent of the survey while 74 per cent completed at least 75 per cent of it.
The 2022 survey showed 39 per cent supported increasing the police budget while 42 per cent wanted a decrease. A 2020 survey showed 52 per cent of respondents wanted to pay less in taxes to support the police budget while 29 per cent stated they were willing to pay more.
A total of 592 people support increasing the budget for Fire and Emergency Services while 170 want funding reduced. A total of 581 said they prefer funding at its present level.
Forty-four per cent of respondents to the 2022 survey said they’d be willing to pay more in taxes to fund Fire and Emergency Services while 13 pert cent preferred a decrease. That was down from 31 per cent in 2020.
Community Services funding had 423 people preferring an increase while 439 want to pay less. A total of 431 people want funding to remain the same.
Support and opposition to paying more for taxes to fund community services was also split in 2022 with 33 per cent being willing to pay more while 34 per cent wanted a cut.
On Governance and Community Development funding, 141 said they’d be willing to pay more while 1,268 oppose a tax increase. Those who want funding left alone amounted to 310 people.
In 2020, 62 per cent of respondents want to pay less taxes to fund Governance and Community Development while 11 per cent supported paying more.
Parks and Cemeteries funding had 490 people preferring a tax increase while 359 want to pay less. A total of 477 prefer funding be kept the same.
Thirty-seven per cent in 2022 showed a preference to increasing taxes to fund parks and cemeteries while 27 per cent preferred to pay less. Thirty-six per cent favour keeping funding the same.
Three hundred sixty four respondents say they approve of increasing funding to Transit and Access-A-Ride while 603 would prefer a funding cut. Three hundred thirty four are satisfied with the funding level.
Forty-six per cent in 2022 wanted fewer of their property tax dollars to pay for transit and Access-A-Ride while 28 per cent were willing to pay more for those services.
The City received 2,504 comments on the site including positives and negatives about various departments.
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This was not a controlled survey where the respondents were registered, it was anonymous. Out of a city population of over 100,000 only 1,453 participated. Now in a controlled survery, over 1,000 may be a good sample to make decisions, but in this case I am suspicious.
I note that “…Eighty-eight per cent of site visitors completed at least 25 per cent of the survey while 74 per cent completed at least 75 per cent of it…”
88% only completed 25% of survey tells me they could have been the same people or group manipulating the results. I could sit at the library make multiple responses to the survey in just 30 minutes to do so.
Almost all of the people I have talked to support an increase to the police budget to put more police into problem areas like downtown to clean up our city and take it back from organized crime, gangs and the addicts!
This survey is not what one could say is a good ‘sample’ of the citizens want! This type of survey is a waste of time and I could have easily sat at the library for days and manipulated the results using the free computers.