March 24, 2005

Villagers say they prefer growth to increasing taxes

By Robert Mihalek

The vast majority of Yellow Springers prefer population and job growth to raising taxes in an effort to generate additional funds for the Village, the results of two surveys organized by Village Council show.

Over 80 percent of survey respondents ranked job and population growth as their preferred methods to raise revenue, according to a summary of the results prepared by Wright State’s Center for Urban and Public Affairs, which conducted the surveys. The support for growth as a means for raising revenue was much greater than support for raising taxes or utility rates, the survey results show.

For instance, almost 79 percent of the respondents of the mail survey, which was sent to all Yellow Springs households, either somewhat or strongly opposed raising property taxes; 70 percent opposed raising income taxes; and almost 68 percent opposed increasing utility fees. The results were similar in the other survey, which was conducted by phone. Almost 77 percent of respondents either somewhat or strongly opposed raising property taxes; 61 percent opposed increasing income taxes; and 56 percent said they opposed raising utility fees.

Almost all respondents said that they support between 1 percent and 3 percent a year of job and population growth over the next five years. Seven percent of respondents on the mail survey said they did not want to see any population growth, while 2 percent opposed job growth. On the phone survey, almost 6 percent opposed population growth and less than 1 percent, or two respondents, said they preferred no job growth in Yellow Springs.

Many respondents indicated that “any growth that occurs should be smart growth, while others stated that growth could occur within current village boundaries,” CUPA reported in its summary of the survey results.

About the surveys
The statistical results of the surveys were the focus of a Council forum held on Tuesday, March 15, at the Bryan Community Center. It was the last of three forums Council organized over the last couple of weeks to provide the public information about growth issues and Village zoning regulations governing development.

Council organized the surveys in an effort to gauge community support for a number of possible initiatives that could raise revenue for the Village or cut expenses. Council members have said that they would use the information gleaned from the surveys to inform a five-year financial plan to address methods to generate additional revenue, reduce costs and fund the Village’s many capital improvement projects, which Village documents show total more than $10 million.

During the forum, Council president Tony Arnett said that creating a “solid financial plan” would help the Village offer a “variety of quality services” that make Yellow Springs special.

“We want to fix the budget so we can continue to have a diverse community,” he said.

The survey process included random telephone surveys of 309 households and a mail survey to all Yellow Springs households (1,738 surveys were distributed and 99 were returned undeliverable). A total of 589 mail surveys were completed, for a 36 percent response rate, according to CUPA. David Jones, a research associate with CUPA who oversaw the survey project, described the response rate as “tremendous.”

Jones said that CUPA is continuing to sift through the comments that villagers made on the surveys, noting that remarks fill more than 40 pages. He said CUPA would deliver the comments to Council by the end of the month.

Next steps to be determined
Calling the results “feedback for Council,” Arnett emphasized that the Council had not yet discussed the results. “It’s up to Council to carry it on,” he said of the fiscal plan. Council must decide what actions to take to increase revenue and reduce costs, he said.

In its analysis of the surveys, CUPA reported that most residents said they do not support cuts to the Gaunt Park Pool and the Bryan Center youth program. Most of those who supported cuts to these two services were 65 and older, CUPA reported.

Out of the six services listed for possible cuts in services, CUPA reported, the Village Mediation Program, channel 13 and Animal Control were preferred to the pool, the Bryan Center youth program and Mayor’s Court. According to the survey, cutting VMP, channel 13 and the Animal Control service would save the Village approximately $13,500 a year.

Arnett admitted that this amount of savings is “not much.”

“It does not solve the problem in any way,” he said.

The survey results show that 65 percent of mail survey respondents and almost 68 percent of phone respondents supported eliminating dispatching in the Yellow Springs Police Department and contracting the service with another Greene County department. But Jones said that because the wording of this question may influence respondents’ answers, it should not be ranked among the other possible cuts. He said Council needs to further discuss cutting dispatching.

According to CUPA’s summary of the surveys, between 60 and 70 percent of respondents supported charging Yellow Springs residents at least what nonresidents now pay to use the Bryan Center meeting rooms. Nonresidents pay up to $30 an hour to use the rooms.

Analyzing the results
During the forum’s question-and-answer portion, several questions were asked about raising revenue by reducing or eliminating the reciprocal tax credit, which is granted to Yellow Springs residents who work in other municipalities. For instance, local residents who work in Dayton, where the income tax is 2.25 percent, do not pay income taxes to the Village, which has a 1.5 percent income tax, while all income taxes for Yellow Springers who work in Beavercreek, which does not have an income tax, go to the Village.

The Village could reduce or eliminate the reciprocal tax credit and require that Yellow Springers working in Dayton pay income tax to the Village — and their current taxes to the city of Dayton.

Suzanne Patterson, a member of Villagers Addressing Land Issues and Development, or VALID, which opposed the annexation of the Fogg property, said that additional income tax generated by tweaking the tax credit could be a “little windfall for the Village.”

But reducing or eliminating the tax credit means some residents would have their income taxes raised, Arnett said.

Jeff Reich said that to double the amount of income taxes paid by those who work out of town would “simply be unfair.”

Another member of VALID, Dimi Reber, said development is a long-term solution to the Village’s financial problems. Raising the income tax rate or adjusting the reciprocal tax credit would increase the number of taxpayers and “would not be an exorbitant tax increase,” she said.

Council member George Pitstick said the “best way to raise income is to increase the business population,” especially small businesses. Increasing business means more employees paying income taxes and more companies using utilities, he said. Pitstick advocated “slow and steady” growth.

Several audience members discussed the issue of population decline. The surveys reported that Yellow Springs has lost more than 900 people over the last 30 years. But it has also been reported, first by local resident Sam Bachtell, who researched this issue, that almost half of the loss in population can be attributed to a decline in the number of students enrolled at Antioch College.

Noting that he and his wife, Jane Hockensmith-Reich, filled out their survey together, Reich said that had he had this information he and his wife would have answered their survey differently. He then asked if Council was aware of this information.

Arnett dodged the specific question, saying that Council views “Antioch College students as contributors to our financial situation” by paying Village income tax. He also said Council did not want to “pit different groups against one another” by breaking down demographics.

In response to another question about the decline of Antioch students, Arnett said that the Village is hurt financially by the loss of each student, noting that the decline in enrollment is “significant.” He said that Antioch students pay utility fees through the college, if they’re employed they pay income taxes, and they shop in town, which helps the local economy.

Later in the forum, Council member Jocelyn Hardman said that instead of focusing on who has left Yellow Springs, the Village needs to concentrate on how it is going to “get to a sustainable level to support the utilities” and to “grow our customer base to meet the demand of the utilities.”