During the Lebanon City Council meeting, held March 25, City Manager Ron Whitlatch announced the city received survey results from a poll intended to determine whether the city should ask voters for a levy supporting the municipal jail.
Pollster JL Wilson said it’s normal to receive about 300 responses from about 10,000 polls conducted, and he had to “work just a little extra” to get 296 valid responses from the (approx.) 8,600 contacts he had available to reach out to.
He shared his analysis of how respondents responded to the questions, and what it means. The key points centered around how respondents felt about reopening the jail, whether they would support the cost of reopening the jail, and how they responded when they learned their taxes would not increase from the levy due to the fact one of their current taxes will fall off the tax roll.
When asked “How important is it for you to reopen the Lebanon Municipal Jail?” they received a 63.7% positive response.
Of this question, Wilson said he’d be concerned if it was 60% or less.
“In terms of is there a community sentiment that supports, generally, the reopening of the jail, I think you could say yes, and that is not a hole in the boat for us.”
Yet, when presented with the background information on the jail, the plan and the cost, those polled gave a 48.6% supportive response.
“That’s not a winning number,” Wilson said. “I typically like to see numbers come in 60-plus (percent) in order to feel like it has a reasonable chance for success.”
He noted, however, that voters are not going to see on their ballot that the levy request will be offset by the cost of a bond that is coming off the debt roll.
He told the council he would never recommend a city go out for a levy with that 48.6% response rate, “but we know there is more to the story.”
When respondents learned they would not see an increase in their taxes because of that paid off debt, the support skyrocketed back up to 66.3%.
“What that tells me is that if you decide to move forward with it, this has to be your top message,” Wilson said.
The second most important information he believes the city should educate voters on is the message that reopening the jail would reduce repeat offenses and increase community safety.
To summarize his entire analysis of his poll, Wilson said, “The measure as it stands I don’t believe will pass unless you can absolutely persuade people and your campaign is focused on the message point that it will not increase their property tax rates.”
The council will make a decision at the next meeting on whether to move forward with the levy request.
In other business:
- Dr. Elaine Wilder told the council the Lebanon Aquatic District recently learned it will not receive $500,000 funding from the school district for pool repairs. She wanted the city to be aware of the circumstances and asked for any advice they could provide.
- The council approved a $2,187,522 contract with Kennedy Jenks for work on the city’s wastewater treatment plant Biosolids Treatment Improvements Project. The work will give the city 30% design plans “so we can better tune-in exactly what we need for funding and cost estimating” for needed upgrades and other pre-engineering work, Public Works Director Jason Williams said.
- The council renewed a 23-month contract and 5% increase ($27,300 annual) for public defense services at the municipal court.