I don’t think many people at City Hall put much stock into what a Tribune survey found last winter when we asked whether voters would support a property tax for a public safety bond package.
The Trib survey, conducted by Behavior Research Center, not only found support for a dedicated property tax, it found a lot of support.
The poll showed a so-called secondary property tax for police and fire would pass by 64 percent. That’s less than three points away from the 66.9 percent vote that the ballot issue received on Tuesday.
Last winter, even pollster Jim Haynes was surprised by the survey results.
“Typically, people are highly opposed to any tax, especially property tax,” Haynes said at the time.
Here’s a link to that story:
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/110422
This was the same poll that had Claudia Walters coming in second. I happened to take part in the survey and the way it was presented was almost a no brainer to answer yes. I think the shocker is that the street bonds passed by almost the same amount as public safety. Congrats to Mesa and thank you to the council for cutting it by so much.
At the time of this survey, it was still $400 million and Smith was the only one talking about cutting it. I think it would have lost 60-40 if it wasn’t cut.