LAKE COUNTY >> Contemplating a sales tax measure on the November ballot specific to the issue, Lake County’s three municipal governments are aware of the urgent need for repair of the region’s roads.
And according to recent survey data published by public opinion consulting firm FM3, the county’s residents are in agreement. In fact, they may even be in favor of a half-cent sales tax increase on Election Day.
The firm, which was commissioned by the Lake County/City Area Planning Council (APC), conducted three separate studies to analyze support for such a measure in Lakeport, Clearlake and unincorporated towns in the area.
All three surveys revealed overwhelming support. In the county, total approval out of 367 interviewees amounted to 73 percent.
These results were considered good news for the county, and gave many in the county a sense of optimism the future success of an increase.
“This has all the good fundamentals as a starting place for a sales tax measure,” Miranda Everitt of FM3 research said during at a public presentation this week. “People understand the need.”
In one part of the study, participants were given a list of ten problems that affect the county and then asked to rate them from “extremely serious” to “not too serious of a problem.” Based on the aggregate of “extremely serious” and “very serious” responses, the condition of county roads (64 percent) and incorporated city streets (54 percent) ranked third and fourth, respectively.
The data also revealed that concern over the issue has increased, jumping 13 percentage points since 2001.
Yet, some hesitated getting excited after hearing the results, which were presented at the Board of Supervisors meeting.
District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington noted that while previous surveys yielded similar results for past attempts, the measures still failed to attain the required two-thirds vote. The last effort was in 2012, according to Everitt.
“Polls and statistics can lie,” Farrington said.
Furthermore, support for the measure significantly decreased when the pollsters said it was a full cent sales tax bump compared to a half-cent one. When supporters of the latter were asked about the increase, their support dropped to 50 percent for and 41 percent against.
But even with these points, the other supervisors and the firm’s presenters were optimistic about its chances.
“Support for the measure is consistently over the vote threshold,” Everitt said. “These results are quite durable.”
