TOWN OF HERMON FEBRUARY 2004 RESIDENT SURVEY Summary of Results INTRODUCTION: In February of 2004, the Town of Hermon distributed a resident survey to 1,762 households in the community. The survey was designed to provide municipal officials with an understanding of how residents viewed the relative importance of a number of possible efforts to upgrade existing facilities and/or improve municipal programs. 600 usable surveys were returned. This yields a response rate of 34.05 percent, well above the twenty to thirty percent typically found in local resident surveys. Most of the questions in the survey required a simple yes / no response. The table below indicates the number and percent of respondents (out of the 600 returned surveys) who answered yes to specific items. Only four items (#'s 1, 4, 15b, and 18) received yes responses from more than half of the households. QUESTION #Yes %Yes 1. The present fire station is located behind the Town Office and is considered by fire officials to be inadequate to serve the growing community. In addition, it is not centrally located. Do you support construction of a new fire station? 315 52.5 2. If yes, when should it be constructed? Now: 19.0% 5 Years: 26.5% 10 Years or more: 8.9% 3. Where do you feel the new fire station should be located? Village area: 26.8% Same location: 22.2% Other: 14.2% 4. Do you support combining fire and rescue service into one department to be operated by the Town? 382 63.7 5a. Do you feel the Town needs to construct a new and larger Town Office? (Note: because less than a quarter of responding households supported a new town office, data on when and where to build is not reported in this summary, but is included in the full survey report) 141 23.5 7. Should a new building combine the Town Office and School Superintendent in one location? 175 29.2 8. In order to attract business to the Village Area and be able to approve smaller size lots, do you feel the Town should extend public water and sewer to this area? 229 38.2 10. Do you feel there is a need for additional senior housing in Hermon? 185 30.8 11. Do you feel there is need for more services or recreation for elderly? 144 24.0 13. The Town's tax year is from July 1 to June 30 and tax bills are currently due in April. Do you support splitting your tax bill into two due dates with ½ due in the fall and ½ due in the spring? 248 41.3 14. Do you support conducting a town-wide reassessment of all properties in order to make all values as fair and accurate as possible? 277 46.2 15a. The Town currently provides drop off locations for recycling of cardboard, newspaper and plastic but not for tin or glass. Should the Town provide curbside pick up of recyclables? 204 34.0 15b. Do you feel the Town should expand (recycling) service to include tin and glass? 309 51.5 16. The State is planning to pave Route 2 in the next few years. Do you feel the Town should plan to install a sidewalk in the Village area from the high school to the Village Center at the same time? 274 45.7 18. Are Town Office hours convenient for most residents? 530 88.3 Demographic Items from End of Survey 5. (Do you) Use free dial up Internet service provided by the Town 211 35.2 6. (Do you) Use on-line services provided by the Town 147 24.5 7. (Are you) Interested in high-speed Internet if provided by Hermon.net for a fee 255 42.5 9. (Do you) Support spending Town funds to improve cell phone service 133 22.2 Residents were asked whether they supported the need to expand or improve several services. The number and percent of respondents indicating yes to either action is presented below. In all cases, less than a quarter of the households supported service expansion or improvement. Service # Expand % Expand # Improve % Improve Fire Department 111 18.5 138 23.0 Rescue Service 82 13.7 141 23.5 Police Department 70 11.7 84 14.0 Public Works 55 9.2 78 13.0 On-Line Services 53 8.8 86 14.3 Residents were asked whether they support the need for the following new or expanded recreational needs. As the data indicates, most residents felt that existing facilities were adequate. Recreational Service #Adequate %Adequate #New %New #Expand %Expand Baseball/Softball 382 63.7 32 5.3 86 5.3 Walking/Hiking Trails 299 49.8 109 18.2 85 14.2 Biking Trails 305 50.8 104 17.3 70 11.7 Tennis Courts 357 59.5 60 10.0 73 12.2 Lacrosse 403 67.2 33 5.5 22 3.7 Track & Field 335 55.8 87 14.5 59 9.8 Several town facilities and services were listed in three groups: high cost items, moderate cost items, and low cost items, and residents were asked to prioritize (rank order) the importance of improvements to these. By assigning weights to the sum of the rankings (disregarding the cost groupings), it is possible to compare the items across cost groups. This approach reveals, for example, that a new middle school (the highest scoring item) was almost twice as important to residents as a new town office (the lowest scoring item). Item Cost Group Weighted Score New Middle School High 1,320 Expand/improve Fire, Rescue, Police, or Public Works Moderate 1,317 New Fire Station High 1,230 Sidewalks in Village Moderate 954 Town-wide reassessment Moderate 888 Expand recycling Low 883 Recreation/Sports needs Moderate 847 Village water & sewer High 747 Expand elderly services Low 744 Change tax billing Low 733 New Town Office High 730 When asked whether they were willing to raise taxes to pay for the items that were most important to them, fully two-thirds of the survey respondents said no.