1 Voters were contacted via telephone calls, email invitations and text messages, and interviews were conducted online and by telephone (landline and cellular). Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. The margin of error for the full sample is ±4.9%. The margins of error for subgroups will be higher.
BACKGROUND:
On February 23, 2022, the City Council unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Desert Recreation District (DRD) to assist with the annexation of Cathedral City into the DRD service territory.
From April 6 through April 20, 2022, Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) conducted a survey on behalf of the Desert Recreation District among a random sample of 449 Cathedral City voters likely to vote in the November 2022 election. The survey examined three related topics, voters’: (1) opinions about the City of Cathedral City, (2) views about the Desert Recreation District, and (3) attitudes towards a potential park and recreation parcel tax measure. Key findings:
(1) Opinions of the City of Cathedral City
▪Slightly more than six-in-ten have a favorable view of the direction of the City. ▪A majority have favorable views of the City’s Park Maintenance Division and the City government overall.
▪Slightly more than seven-in-ten perceive the City has a great or some need for additional funds, and specifically around park and recreation programs. (2) Views about the Desert Recreation District (DRD)
▪Almost six-in-ten do not know enough about the Desert Recreation District to offer an opinion of it.
▪Those who do know about the Desert Recreation District generally view it favorably.
▪Based on what they already know about the Desert Recreation District and/or what they learn about the District in the survey, roughly 7-in-10 favor the District taking over the ongoing maintenance and programs of local parks in Cathedral City.
(3) Attitudes towards a potential Park & Recreation Parcel Tax Measure ▪Initially, close to six-in-ten support an annual levy of 15-cents per building square foot on single-family residential units for parks/recreational services and facilities – short of the super-majority needed.
▪With education, support reaches the two-thirds mark necessary to pass the measure; however, after critical statements, support drops below the margin of error of passage to just shy of 60 percent.
▪Keeping afterschool and senior programs affordable, ensuring the funds are used within Cathedral City, addressing homelessness in parks, and maintaining and improving neighborhood park safety are considered among the leading priorities for the measure.
▪Establishing a cooling center during excessively hot days, maintaining the parks’ infrastructure, and ensuring the measure has strict accountability provisions are leading reasons to support the measure.
On May 25, 2022, the full results of this poll were presented to City Council for review, discussion, and direction. Council considered the various options available and ultimately decided to move forward with Option #1 – to proceed with the November 2022 Desert Recreation District (DRD) annexation and Community Facilities District (CFD) Measure.
To date, DRD has been leading this effort with the goal both establishing the Community Facilities District (CFD) financing mechanism, as well as, annexing the City to the DRD boundary via LAFCO proceeding. On June 13, 2022, the City was informed that the LAFCO deadlines have made the current City Council decision to pursue DRD annexation and CFD approval untenable with DRD acting as the lead agency. In order for the DRD to form a CFD, they had to be able to demonstrate that the City was already annexed into the DRD or that the City had an application with LAFCO that had been deemed to be accepted. Neither of those are currently the case as of today. It is now impossible to do this before the LAFCO deadline. Alternatively, the City can take action to form the CFD and call for the CFD election (instead of the DRD) in order to ensure that election is consolidated with the November 2022 general election.
DISCUSSION:
The polling results presented by FM3 were inconclusive compared to the 2018 poll, with the major hurdle continuing to be the community’s lack of familiarity with the DRD. The polling results determined a large percentage of the population was unfamiliar with the DRD or the services they provide, which heavily influenced voters to vote no. Although not ideal, staff and the consultants are prepared to work diligently to educate and outreach the community in an effort to improve the likelihood of the measure’s success.
As a result, this change in circumstances may be favorable to the City as the polling results demonstrated an overall increase in the public’s trust and perception of local government.
This evening, the DRD will present an update to the CFD process, and the community outreach efforts planned for the measure.
As one of California’s leading revenue measure strategy and communications consulting firms, TBWBH (subconsultant to the DRD) has passed over 430 successful bond and tax measures, providing more than $20 billion in voter-approved funding for facility and infrastructure improvements and quality public services in California.
Successful revenue measures are built upon a foundation of strong community consensus. The goal of this presentation is to provide the City Council with a preview of the outreach efforts planned, considering the change to the structure of the CFD proposal.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no new fiscal impact associated with this update.