Posted on: Thursday, November 18, 2004

EDITORIAL
Council poll helpful if it's read carefully

You get what you pay for. We've always believed that the City Council should figure out what O'ahu residents want when it comes to facilities and services, then collect the tax revenues — no more, no less — needed to pay for them.

As long as it is used to support that goal, a public opinion survey conducted last month on behalf of the council seems a constructive approach, to the extent that it is objective.

Of course, not all surveys are created equal, as Duke Bainum and George W. Bush can attest, having enjoyed commanding leads in local polls before the Nov. 2 election. Faulty sampling can skew the results.

So can fuzzy questions, which is the more likely potential problem with the council's poll.

Sen. Colleen Hanabusa points out a clear example in the survey's finding that 67 percent of respondents believe "the Legislature should allow the city more flexibility in raising money."

Does that mean the city should have more taxing authority? "I don't think people want to give anyone more taxing authority," Hanabusa said.

There's also plenty of room to misinterpret, or misuse, the findings of such a survey.

The survey suggested, among other things, that most O'ahu residents don't want to pay increased taxes or new fees for garbage collection, and they don't want the city to borrow money to pay for faster road repairs.

But the city must repair roads, and it must collect garbage. And it's just bad management to borrow money to finance ongoing operations.

The survey also found some support for the idea of paying for some city functions with user fees instead of general tax revenues. It makes sense to us that golfers should pay the lion's share of maintaining golf courses, rather than non-golfers.

But most city functions — roads, sewers — are too expensive to be paid for only by taxpayers who actually use them. We're all in this together.

So a better understanding of popular preferences may be helpful. but it won't in the end save council members from having to make hard choices to accomplish those jobs within the constraints of their budget.