Elgin hopes to mail survey by early January
Elgin's survey of residents hasn't been sent out yet, so its results won't be part of next year's budget planning as officials had hoped.
But because the city is facing great financial uncertainty due to the state's own budget impasse, the survey wouldn't have made a difference, City Manager Sean Stegall said. The city council kicked off budget deliberations last week.
"It would have had no impact on the 2016 budget because of the fact that we can't make long-term strategic decisions until the state resolves its crisis," he said. "The data will be useful in future years."
Stegall said he hopes to informally present the survey's final version to the city council later this month so it can be mailed no later than the first week of January.
The city hired Kansas-based ETC Institute in June to create the survey. At the time, communications director Kristine Rogowski, who's been overseeing the project, said it should be completed by late October or early November.
However, the survey is still taking shape because it took longer than anticipated to tailor questions to fit Elgin's needs, Rogowski said.
Also, Stegall said he considered putting a stop to the survey in October as part of larger financial considerations, because Elgin hasn't received millions in state funding since July, but then decided to move forward.
The survey will be mailed to nearly 5,000 households to obtain a statistically accurate sample of 500 residents, said ETC Institute Vice President Ron Vine.
A first survey draft was developed by ETC based on national survey benchmark questions, which was revised several times with input from city staff members, the city's strategic plan advisory commission and the Elgin Community Network, Rogowski said.
"It's about 'What do we need to know?' as opposed to 'What do we want to know?'" she said.
Once the survey is cut down to optimal length - the goal is for it to take 15 minutes - it will be tested through the Enhancing Elgin committee, Rogowski said.
The $25,750 cost of the survey is being split equally between the city and the Elgin Community Network, a group mostly funded by the city. Elgin last conducted a survey of this kind in 2007.