Poll Finds Walnut Creek Residents Divided Over How To Fix Budget Problems

Most people in Walnut Creek aren't aware of the city's financial difficulties and the town is evenly divided over what to do about them.

That was the overall determination from a survey taken of city residents by EMC Research in early September.

The City Council heard the results on Tuesday evening as part of their process to adopt a 2014-2016 budget next spring.

EMC talked to 401 registered Walnut Creek voters via landline and cell phones between Sept. 3 and Sept. 8. That survey has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points, plus or minus.

That poll revealed that most residents are optimistic about the city's future and have trust in the City Council -- 76 percent said the city was headed in the right direction.

Two-thirds of those surveyed were unaware of the city's struggles to balance its budget and maintain services.

Of city services, the police department ranked the highest with road maintenance, city parks and open space following.

Traffic was the highest concern with 22 percent listing that as their top priority. Next was growth at 15 percent and the budget at 14 percent.

Those surveyed were also evenly divided over how to solve the fiscal problems -- 45 percent said the city should explore ways to get additional revenue to maintain services while 46 percent said spending should be reduced.  The rest said they weren't sure.

EMC also posted an online survey that 362 people answered. Ten city services were named as priorities.

City Manager Ken Nordhoff said city leaders will use these findings to help shape their decisions as they craft the 2014-2016 budget.

He said tough decisions will have to be made because there simply isn't enough money to pay for everything.

"There aren't enough revenues to do everything we are doing today," said Nordhoff.

The city's general fund budget for the 2012-2103 fiscal year was $67.4 million. For the 2013-2014 fiscal year, it's $68 million.