SEMCOG asking residents to take online survey to guide local government budget decisions
The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments and the Metropolitan Affairs Coalition are in the final days of a regional online survey seeking resident input on local government service priorities and ways to balance municipal budgets.
SEMCOG officials say Southeast Michigan residents have a unique opportunity to provide guidance to local governments and help shape the future of their communities.
"While there are positive signs that the worst may be over for the private sector, local governments still face trying times ahead due to severe declines in property values, property taxes, and state revenue sharing," SEMCOG and MAC said in a joint news release. "In response, local governments will need to make difficult choices regarding which services they can afford to provide to residents — as well as how to pay for these services."
Results of the survey will be shared sometime after Friday with local government leaders in Southeast Michigan who are grappling with budget problems.
The survey asks two critical questions: Which local government services are most important to you as a resident? And what actions would you support to close your community’s revenue gap in the likely event of a budget shortfall?
SEMCOG is a regional planning partnership of governmental units serving 4.8 million people in the seven-county region of Southeast Michigan, including Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County.
MAC, a partner organization of SEMCOG, is a nonprofit public-private partnership that brings business, labor and government together to build consensus on regional issues.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's e-mail newsletters.
Comments
Geek Chick
Tue, Apr 12, 2011 : 5:33 p.m.
Nuke the "survey." Any information collected this casually is statistically worthless. Shame on any governmental body who collects "data" in such a sloppy way that the results have no value. If you are going to survey your citizens, take the time and spend the money to do it well. Otherwise, just don't do it. Shame on SEMCOG.
1bit
Tue, Apr 12, 2011 : 2:08 a.m.
Quick and painless. Take a minute and voice your opinion on what matters to you.
Joe Hood
Tue, Apr 12, 2011 : 2:01 a.m.
Would be nice if the results of these surveys were made public without a FOIA request. The survey does only take a few minutes.
Chuck Warpehoski
Tue, Apr 12, 2011 : 12:19 a.m.
Hmm, I get an error when I try to take the survey, "Error 101 (net::ERR_CONNECTION_RESET): Unknown error."
DonBee
Mon, Apr 11, 2011 : 10:33 p.m.
Thank you Ryan for posting the link. I think everyone should take the time to respond to the survey. I note that community mental health and services for homeless did not make the survey. The reality is that for local communities consolidation of at least some services makes sense. Long-term we need 500 to 1,000 fewer units of Government in the state.