If you get a call from an automated poll asking your opinion on the Peoria Riverfront Museum, it’s not a call from museum officials, but rather Peoria County. Several readers reported they were getting calls about this, so I put up a post about it. I received this comment explaining the whole thing, which I’m reprinting here so no one misses it:
Hello CJ. I appreciate you and your readers taking an interest in the recent Riverfront Museum Survey. This survey was not conducted by “Museum folks,” but rather by Peoria County Government. Peoria County was approached last year to spend $24 million tax payer dollars to fund the museum project. The only way Peoria County may raise these proceeds is by creating a museum district funded by property taxes or to get legislative authorization for a sales tax. For either, we would need to ask the voters by including a referendum on the ballot.
We decided to take a proactive approach by asking voters before placing the referendum on the ballot. We are very much interested in the results because the results provide guidance for how we should proceed. By conducting this poll, our intention is not to generate more interest in the museum but rather to gauge how much interest our citizens currently have in spending $24 million of their collective dollars to support the museum.
In response to two of your readers’ comments regarding the abrupt conclusion to the survey should a respondent select “no” (or number 2) as to whether he or she feels the museum would be beneficial to the region, both the County Administrator and I approved the survey by taking it via phone several times ourselves. When a respondent selects “no,” the recording says “Thank you for your time. I appreciate your participation.” We believe if a citizen does not feel the museum is beneficial, he or she would not support a tax increase to fund the museum; therefore, by eliciting a negative reply, we had the information we needed from the respondent and did not want to unnecessarily take more of the individual’s time.
It was also respondents’ time that became the deciding factor as to whether we included “undecided” and “none of the above” in the same response. We did debate whether to offer these two replies together or separately, but when you take into consideration our citizens’ busy lifestyles and our appreciation for them taking time out of those schedules to reply to a phone survey, we did not desire to lengthen the survey unnecessarily.
Peoria County’s three possible options as far as tax increases to fund the museum are those we included in the survey: property tax increase for Peoria County property owners, regional property tax increase, or sales tax increase for Peoria County. On the advice of the survey administrator, the County Administrator and I agreed that if someone was “undecided” he or she would be more likely to vote against a tax increase (in any form) than for a tax increase were the question to appear on a ballot. Hence, more often than not, “undecided” would prove to be the same response as “none of the above” and would only serve to unnecessarily lengthen the survey if offered as a separate option. We also felt limiting the options to four rather than five was prudent considering the complexity of each option.
Again CJ, Peoria County Government does appreciate your interest in the Riverfront Museum survey. We value your input and that of your readers. Once we get and share the results with the County Board we will be more than happy to share those results with you. Please feel free to contact me regarding the survey: Jenny Zinkel, Director of Strategic Communications, jzinkel@peoriacounty.org. Thank you.
Many thanks to Jenny Zinkel for setting the record straight.
UPDATE: I received some additional information about the poll:
County Administration decided to conduct a phone survey, but a similar question regarding a tax increase to support museum funding was also included on a mail survey randomly sent to 3000 households in Peoria County. Residents have until March 3 to remit the mail survey. We expect to have results of that survey April 7; the results will then be made public.
Communication Express conducted the phone survey. It was completed yesterday [Monday] and we received results today [Tuesday]. Once we make the results known to the County Board, we will release those results to the public. By week’s end, the whole board will have been notified of the results; I anticipate sending a press release on Monday. The results will be used as guidance for the board when deciding whether to put a referendum on the ballot.
The survey cost was $1367.47. 1009 households participated in the survey: 504 within the City of Peoria, 505 in Peoria County, outside Peoria City limits.
A number of alternative plans have been suggested by a good many people: smaller museum, more retail development, use pre-existing building, various design changes, renovate present Lakeview and turn downtown into something productive, etc. All of these are viable plans. Of course, no one is listening. Instead of listing a number of different TAX options, list a bunch of MUSEUM options!
First off.. the lead on the survey was so one sided, I don’t know how you could not answer 1. The lead basically promises the earth the moon and the stars. Who wouldn’t want that. The lead question is hardly balanced, it is leading. Hence my labeling it as a push poll.
I would think it would be helpful to know why someone isn’t supportive of it. Is it taxes? Is it the ugly assed building that they want to put it in? Is it the total deviation from New Urbanism? Is it the location (not everyone wants it to move)?
As I have watched this unfold, it seems that every iteration that is put forward results in less and less support. Go back to the original concept (CJ has picture someplace) which had retail, residential, and yes a museum seamlessly tucked in. Could I support that with taxes? Sure.. will I support the current concept.. mm NO.
New Voice — That might be a little out of the county’s scope. They don’t really get to make those kinds of decisions; they’re just trying to figure out if there’s support for using $24 million in tax money for the project that’s on the table right now.
I think it’s great that this is being done by the county and not the museum group since the county is a public body and the survey results will be public information.
FYI – The caller ID says “Out Of Area”. So if you call screen, you won’t be taking the quiz.
Well then, it would have been nice since the call came in the evening or at family time to say “This is a Peoria County paid for survey on whether or not you support the museum.” Nope, the call comes off as if it was coming from the “museum people”. Yes the call does thank you and says goodbye but it is too late, it has already taken my time and it offers no feedback as to why one might not like tax dollars going to the museum which the call doesn’t even suggest. In short, the poll is mis-leading if the first button you press is 2(No). It is ended. I have to wonder how it would have sounded if I had pressed 1 (yes). Would it have told me that is was merely a Peoria County poll on whether to support this thing with our tax dollars? I say put it on a referendum and stop spending tax money on phone polls. As for a guide on how the county board is going to proceed, well, that should be done by listening to the people who elect them via a referendum.
There probably is an applicable saying to the referendum situation ” those who live by the referendum – die by the referendum”. If every issue from the color of the dump trucks to the salary of the sheriff was put up for a referendum then we would not need elected representatives, we just hold a townhall meeting and vote on what suits us at the moment, tempers and emotions and all the other influences of the groups. No need for thought out due consideration in a deliberative body that can be notified by phone or email and register the support or lack of support for a given issue to the respective member of that body (county board) If a referendum was held and the issue on the ballot is supported by the majority does the county board have to follow it? Be careful how you answer- it may depend on the question proposed.
Wow, no one is saying hold a referendum on everything from dump trucks to fireman. There are things the county has to do that we have to trust the board to carry out. But if this board is going to spend $24 million dollars of taxpayer money ona museum that doesn’t have public support privately, then they better have a binding referendum on this issue. NOT a non binding but binding.
If this was such a popular idea, then why can’t they raise the cash? They said they could at the beginning but in true Peoria fashion, the project was hacked and hacked again. Get a grip.
Some of you people are really something. Sounds like Peoria County is simply trying to get some input before any sort of formal referendum. Those sorts of referendums cost money (more, I would guess, than a phone poll). This would seem to be a popular way to guage the general direction of the people. We can disagree about the wording of the poll, but that is more art than science to begin with. I hope they report the total number of people who pressed “no” against the total number called.
Sud O. Nym
Sure, let Peo County conduct their phone poll. It is probably cheaper than holding a full-blown referendum. I guess that an open and honest report of YES vs. NO is in order [I would not know which way to bet on the media release of ANY type of report though]. I am willing to give Peo County Board a little room here. They can’t possibly mess this up the way the Museum ‘folks’ messed up their “name-the-museum-game,” or miss-lead the public into thinking this museum is something that it is not.
The people of Peoria are not stupid. Everyone I know has an opinion about this museum. This project has received MORE than its fair share of press over the years. As Emtronics says, “If this was such a popular idea, then why can’t they raise the cash?” Face it, this project [as is] has NEVER been popular with the general public. Do we even need a phone poll to prove this?
Everytime I read this story on the news I wonder what people think about it. It is such a huge project. When we first started reporting it, there was no mention of raising taxes, now it’s a real possibility. I was wondering if this was going to get controversial. Thanks for the insight!
And then of course — it will depend on how the referendum question is worded…..
Just vote NO to any new taxes, we still cannot afford it ……