A RECENT POLL conducted by True North, Inc. confirmed what I already knew: Ventura voters are content here and are willing to invest in their city.

Despite a round of new temporary taxes from the state, nearly 60 percent of those surveyed said they would likely vote for a temporary 1/2-cent hike in the city sales tax to support public safety, libraries, local infrastructure, economic-generating activities and building financial reserves.

This figure has held steady through surveys conducted in May of 2007 and December of 2008. True North talked to 400 likely voters between May 27-31 of this year. (The survey had a 4.86 point margin of error.) The sample was "a perfect representation of your voting electorate," True North President Timothy McLarney explained.

What else did they find? Seventy-five percent are somewhat or very satisfied with the job the City of Ventura is doing to provide services. Sixty-one percent feel things are going in the right direction in our city, compared with 22 percent who weren't sure and 21 percent who thought they were going in the wrong direction.

The state didn't fair as well in the poll, however, with only 11 percent responding that California in general was going in the right direction.

And just who is the typical Ventura voter? She's more likely to be female, over age 50, own her own home and have lived in the city at least 15 years. She isn't too worried about finances and is a Democrat. She doesn't own a business here.

THE CITY COUNCIL will make the final decision on the sales tax measure at its June 22 meeting. The Citizen Blue Ribbon Budget Committee, a 15-member group appointed by the council, voted in March to recommend the measure be placed on the fall ballot.

The 1/2 cent sales tax increase would sunset in four years and would be used to support the essential services recommended by the committee, which the poll respondents also responded favorably to.

Ventura CFO Jay Panzica explained that the increased sales tax rate would cost approximately 22 cents per day for each resident and would generate nearly $10 million a year. Ventura's sales tax is now at the state minimum. Currently, for each dollar residents and visitors pay in, the city only receives 9.82 cents back, Panzica said. The lure of the new measure is that 100 percent of the increase would stay right here in Ventura.

After cutting its budget $11 million this year and $6 million in 2008, the city stands to lose another $2.8 million in the current city revenue grab proposed by the governor.

"If we choose not to put this on the ballot ... then we will be surrendering our destiny to the vagaries of Sacramento for the next few years," Councilmember Bill Fulton said.

Update: All the questions for the survey and the sampling method used can be found here:

vensalestaxreport0609.pdf

THE FIRST WAVE of budget cuts were announced Thursday at 5 p.m. by City Hall.

Managers proposed 5 percent cuts to every department and on the casualty list are the city's roving fire medic team which has improved emergency response times; the popular Downtown ArtWalks; the children's event "Cowboys, Heroes, and Outlaws"; sidewalk repairs; drainage repairs for the rest of the year and 33 full-time positions including an assistant police chief who will take early retirement. Reductions in services include preventative street maintenance, park maintenance, tree trimming, building inspections, code enforcement, weed clearing, and many other services.

Some of the positions eliminated were vacant posts that had been left open because of the hiring freeze. Eighteen were filled positions.

Setting an example, City Manager Rick Cole agreed to take a 10 percent pay cut and asked the entire staff to do the same. While some negotiations are still in progress, all management has agreed to the slashes in pay.

Our firefighters agreed to put off a planned pension increase for at least a year and the police association agreed to a reduction in leave-time accrual equal to a 5 percent pay cut. Over 80 hours of patrolling will be lost in addition to such areas as records keeping and evidence processing. Two of the vacant positions which were eliminated were patrol positions.

For a complete list of current reductions, go here.

The City Council will be asked to sign off on the proposed reductions with an eye toward the next round of much larger cuts which will be announced in March. The looming budget gap could be as high as $12 million.

Upcoming are "deep cuts in every department, total elimination of many popular services and facilities and significant erosion in the level of almost every other service to our community," Cole wrote in an administrative report. "This alternative also exacts a heavy toll on city staff and the long-term capacity of the organization to provide quality services since it would require significant lay-offs, pay cuts or both."

Needless to say, the mood at City Hall among staff is very somber these days.

ALSO UP FOR Council consideration at a special meeting called for Tuesday at 7 p.m. will be a 1/2-cent sales tax measure which would require just a majority passage. The cities of Oxnard and Port Hueneme recently approved such measures. Of 19 California cities who put such measures to the voters last fall, 15 were able to get them passed.

Current polling done by the City of Ventura indicates the majority of residents would likely support such a measure. Respondents were presented with arguments both for and against the measure as well as information about the 911 fee, which was recently rescinded.

"The vast majority of Ventura voters have a high opinion of the city's performance in providing municipal services," the research firm wrote in an accompanying report, "and they consider maintaining the quality of existing services to be among the most important issues facing the community -- substantially more important than avoiding
local tax increases."

What will complicate any sales tax increase proposal will be proposed plans by the state to do the same. The Assembly has scheduled a floor session for 5 p.m. Saturday to vote on the state budget.