Budget Survey Results Summary
Overview (July 2010)
In July 2010, the PEDC developed a budget issue survey to see what residents thought about various budget options available to the Town. A link to this survey was posted on the PEDC website for 3 months and the survey received 117 responses before it was taken down in December. The following is a summary of the responses. A complete listing of all responses is also available on the PEDC website.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
- Money for Town Web Site. The First question on the Budget Survey had to do with money for a new Town website. This question was asked in a way that tried to show the relatively low cost of upgrading the Town Website. The question was: “Would you approve a tax rate increase of one cent per thousand of tax value (which translated to an additional three dollars ($3.00) in taxes on house valued at $300,000), if the revenue was used to create and maintain a new, more useful Town website”. 47% of the responders said yes and 53% responded no. The most common comment on this question was that people felt that the cost of $37,000 was too much to spend for a Town website. Other interesting comments recommended that the upgrading of the Town website be done by volunteers, noting that many IT professionals live in Portsmouth.
- Increase Taxes for Transportation. The Second question discussed whether Portsmouth should increase taxes by 20 cents per $1000 of valuation (an increase of $60 in taxes on a $300,000 home) to generate about $750,000 per year to repair its transportation infrastructure. Answers to this question were fairly even split yes and no with 47 per cent saying yes and 46% No. Comments on this question were varied, with the most common indicating concern that the funding would be used only for infrastructure repair and no other uses.
- Increase Taxes for Trenasportation (but less increase) - Question Three was a follow-on to question 2, asking if people would support a modified program that would cost ten cents more per thousand on the tax rate (a $30 increase in tax on a $300,000 home) for transportation maintenance. Here the answer was more positive, with 60.7% responding yes, 30.8% responding no. Once again, comments on this question were quite varied and similar to those on question 3.
- Funding for Portsmouth Action for Youth. Question Four asked if people would support eliminating funding to Portsmouth Action of Youth (PAY) if it would save 1.5 cents per thousand on the tax rate. 75% of the responders said no, they would not support eliminating this funding and only 19.7% said yes. Several comments indicated how valuable many responders felt the PAY program was.
- Adding Taxes for Use by the Town Council. Question Five had to do with adding three cents to the tax rate to provide a budget to be spent at the Town Council's discretion. This would add about $100,000 in revenues to be used to fund projects to improve the quality of life in Portsmouth. 43% of respondents said yes, while 56% said no. The most common comment on this question related to what these funds were to be used for and how they would be controlled. Several responders felt that such funds should go to the schools.
- Funding for Library. Question Six related to cutting funding support for the Portsmouth free public library. 84% of the responders indicated no, and only 16% said yes. The most common comment on this question was how valuable a resource the free library is to all the people in Portsmouth.
- Preferences for Types of Businesses in the Town. Question Seven asked what kinds of businesses should be encouraged to move to Portsmouth. Positive responses included: Fishing/Agriculture 63%; Light Manufacturing 59%; Professional Services 81%; Small or Medium size retail 70%; Technology businesses, such as Electronics or Biomedical, 73.5%; Marine Services also 73.5%; Office Complexes 54%; and Medical Facilities 66%, with those least preferred including Heavy Manufacturing at 5%; and Large size Retail at 26%. Several comments were provided on this question and are too numerous to summarize, although several indicated that any business that provides jobs and pays taxes should be encouraged to locate in Portsmouth.
- Expansion of Farm Use. Question Eight asked a question about Portsmouth Farms that have expanded their operations to include hosting periodic social events and other activities related to Agro tourism. The question asked “… should these kinds of non-farming but agriculture related activities be allowed, allowed but only with special zoning permits or not allowed.” Fully 90% of the responders said yes or yes but only with special use permit and 11% indicated no. Once again this question had numerous comments that are too complex to summarize.
- Sources of Revenue. Question Nine related to economic opportunities. The question asked “which of the following potential opportunities for new sources of revenue in Portsmouth would you support…”: Locating the aircraft carrier JFK in Portsmouth as a tourist attraction and community resource garnered 50.4% of the responses; Improving and Expanding the Melville Camping complex 62.4%; and Developing Elmhurst school as a Conference Center 67%. The most popular item was to encourage new businesses to come to Portsmouth by simplifying and streamlining the zoning application process, which garnered 76% positive responses. Creating a Commuter Rail Service to Newport received 52% positive responses. Comments on this question included several negative responses relating to the need for any of these options.
- Consolidation. The final question related to regionalization. The question asked” “If substantial savings could be realized by consolidating school department and Town services with Newport in Middletown without sacrificing quality or a inheriting unfunded liabilities from the other towns, would you support it.” 64% of responders indicated they would support regionalization and another 14% indicated they would support it with certain conditions. The conditions were spelled out in many of the comments following this question, many of which were concerned with maintaining the quality of Portsmouth schools. Only 22% of responses indicated that they would not support regionalization.
Download a complete summary of the data generated by this survey(PDF Document)