Author: Sal
1,000 Residents Asked How Council Tax Should Be Spent
Wednesday, 11th November, 2009 at 2:30 pm, Isle of Wight
Island-wide, Isle of Wight Council, News, Opinion Piece
Over the next few weeks, the Isle of Wight Council will be contacting 1,000 residents on the Island to gather their views on how our Council Tax money should be spent.
As well as running a workshop in December, the Council say that this survey will provide “the most accurate account of how Island residents feel about life here and also about council services now and in the future”.
We’re all for residents having their say, but to claim that talking to 1,000 residents provides an accurate representation of the Island population is pushing it a bit in our view.
They say that the outcomes of the phone calls will help them decide what the priorities should be when next year’s budget is set at the end of February.
IW Council leader Cllr David Pugh said: “Because of the recession and the way the council receives funding from Government, next year’s budget will involve taking some difficult decisions. The council is prepared to make those decisions but is also keen to ensure those choices reflect the opinions of residents.
“It is likely we will have to review some services as part of our need to live within our means but we are keen to direct resources to those that are most valued by our residents and those for which we have a statutory duty.
“I would ask residents to take the time to respond to the telephone survey if they are contacted in the coming weeks. I assure residents that their views will be taken into account when setting the budget.
“This consultation is a genuine chance for Islanders to influence the decisions that will affect services the council provides.”
Image: The U.S. National Archives under CC BY-SA 2.0
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Would it be to much to ask if they just spent it wisely on our collective long term behalf?
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Also, are the 1000 interviewed employee’s of the council? heheh
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How is 1000 supposed to show as a sample of the population? It is not even one percent of the island population.
Typical nonsense window dressing.
They decide what they’re going to do, then pretend to ask and do what they were going to do in the first place any way. Only thing that has happened is that it has cost a load of money.
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Although 1000 people can provide a statistically sound insight into people’s views (within a margin or error of about three per cent) the Council’s method probably can’t achieve this.
As a phone survey it immediately excludes:
a) people who aren’t on the phone – often the less well-off
b) if restricted to landlines then it excludes those who only use a mobile (increasingly the case for younger people)
It could also exclude those groups who don’t like ‘cold calling’. Ideally the phone survey would repeat the calls if someone is out – if most calls are made in the day that excludes those who work. If they take place in the evening that excludes shift workers, those whose lifestyles mean they are out.
And so on and so on… so unless the Council can explain why the survey will be statistically sound then it largely sounds like a waste of money.
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And waste of money is what they do so well.
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I agree with you that the sample size is statistically significant but as you suggest the way in which the sample population is chosen should be published so that the public can judge how representative of the Island population it is.
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They done this before. 3 ways of answering each question. So you had to go with their choices. Then when some of them proved unpopular, we were told ‘WELL YOU CHOSE THEM’
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Oo I hates them County Hall meeses to pieces
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I think they should publish the questions so we can all see them…in the County Press perhaps.
Q. Where do you think we should cut expenditure next year?
1. for old people ?
2. for young people ?
3. for sick people ?
4. for roads ?
5. for schools ?
6. for the environment ?
etc etc ?
Q. Would you like to pay more tax next year, less tax or the same tax ?
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Council tax will be Frozen for two years said a leaflet pushed through my door bye councillor Bingham before the last Council election.As are Island council are very honest people it will remain the same.No increase for us.
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hahhahahahahahahahahahahah
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I do not have a landline as I use skype, email, txt, mobile etc. to communicate, and this is the same for many of my friends and colleagues. So I am excluded from the sample group, although according to the system I do have a phone as I need a connection for the internet, but all I have got is a router plugged in.
One easy thing that would cost next to nothing would be to post the survey online. Alongside that they would need to conduct a number of phone surveys to cover the proportion of individuals who don’t have access to the internet. They could also take an ad in the CP that can be cut out and posted to cover those without the Internet or a phone line. If everyone had to submit their postcode it would allow the to run the results through a Mosaic type modeling system which would break the results down into specific groups allowing the Council to target resources in a much more specific way.
The cost of using a company such as mori to undertake this research is very expensive and considering the financial pressures upon County Hall would it make more sense to utilise more modern inexpensive approaches.
But I guess the Council is not actually doing this to target resources, but more likely to develop its spin-strategy to counter reactions to unpopular decisions. Or it may just be doing it to be seen to be doing it…because to improve its star rating the manual says so….
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The council could have invoked a web survey as last year, but that would be vulnerable to equally unscrupulous individuals replying many times :-)
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Had my phone call yesterday afternoon from a nice man calling from the research company in Birmingham. Had a laugh when he gave me a list of services to put in order of priority. I got him to repeat the list before giving my answer!! He was amazed by me being then able to give my complete prioritised list as I had been the first to remember them all!! Moral of the story to him and his firm – don’t disturb the islanders on a lazy Sunday afternoon!!!
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