First Annual Treasure Valley Survey

About:

The First Annual Treasure Valley Survey was conducted September 11-15, 2016 and surveyed 1000 adults currently living in Ada, Canyon, and Owyhee Counties. The sample was designed to be proportional to county population, with Ada County accounting for 73.6% of respondents, Canyon County providing 24.1%, and Owyhee providing 1.8%. (There was a modest intentional over-sampling for Owyhee County.) Respondents were asked about their attitudes concerning a variety of topics, including living and working in the Treasure Valley, economic development, government services, education, transportation, agriculture, housing, and homelessness.
GS Strategy Group, a Boise-based polling firm, administered the survey on behalf of the School of Public Service. Treasure Valley-wide results have a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

Key Findings:

• Residents view the Treasure Valley very positively across indicators including quality of life, as a place to raise a family, and a place to build a career.
• The region’s low crime, low cost of living, and strong economy are the top reasons residents provide for living here.
• Many are concerned about the pace of growth in the region.
• Policy options such as early childhood education and commuter rail service are popular, but willingness to increase taxes to fund these initiatives is significantly lower.
• Attitudes are divided on many issues related to housing, including where responsibility lies for solving challenges related to homelessness and whether government funds should be used to build additional low-income housing units.
For more information visit:
sps.boisestate.edu/treasure-valley-survey/

The First Annual Treasure Valley Survey finds widespread positive attitudes about living and working in the region. Residents of the area view it very positively, with 92.1% rating quality of life here as either excellent or good. Residents almost universally share the view that the Treasure Valley is a good place to raise a family (95.6% strongly or somewhat agree), and 81.9% agree that the Treasure Valley is a good place to work and build a career.

When it comes to the best reason to live in the Treasure Valley, nearly one-third of respondents noted crime and safety (31.7%), followed by the cost of living (29.7%), and good jobs and a strong economy (13.7%). The importance of crime and safety is underscored by the fact that 81.8% of respondents say their neighborhoods are either extremely or very safe, compared to only 2.1% who view the neighborhood where they live as not safe at all. There is more ambivalence about the pace of growth in the Treasure Valley, however, with 44.5% of respondents stating the region is growing too fast, compared to 50.3% who say the speed of growth is about right and only 2.8% who believe it to be too slow. The Treasure Valley’s growth is reflected by the proportion of newcomers to the region in the sample – more than two-thirds (69%) of respondents were born outside of the valley compared to the 30.3% who were born here.

These two groups are noteworthy in the similarities and differences in the reasons they provide for why they either moved or stayed in the area. Although family was the most frequent reason provided by natives and newcomers alike, employment was the second most common reason offered by those who migrated to the area while a general love for the area was the second most popular explanation for lifelong residents.

Treasure Valley Residents on the Issues

When asked about the most important issue facing the state, Treasure Valley residents most frequently reported education (22.6%) and jobs and the economy (20.1%), followed by the government in general (5.6%), health care (5.5%), immigration (4%), growth and overpopulation (3.3%), and various environmental issues such as climate change and water access (3.1%).

Attitudes concerning the quality of education in the state of Idaho’s K-12 public schools varied, with nearly two-thirds of respondents (62.8%) rating them as either good or fair. However, when asked about their own district, evaluations improved significantly, with the number of respondents rating their community public schools as either excellent or good increasing by 10.5%.

When it comes to school funding, Treasure Valley residents see teacher salaries as the highest priority, with 41.5% suggesting any additional funding should be used to either raise salaries to retain existing teachers or increase starting salaries to attract new teachers. Other priorities included funding technology in the classroom (12.9%), new books and supplies for students (9.9%), and extra-curricular activities such as athletic and music programs (5.9%). When it comes to whether one’s school district should raise additional tax revenue, however, Treasure Valley residents are again split, with 49% agreeing that their district should raise additional tax revenue and 44.2% disagreeing. When informed that a recent study shows the state of Idaho ranks 49/50 in per-pupil funding, the number of those who think their district should raise additional tax revenue only increases by 2.6%, with those opposed to additional taxes only dropping by 1.1% A similar pattern plays out when it comes to attitudes about early childhood education. Although 71.2% of Treasure Valley residents agree that access to high-quality, affordable preschool is beneficial to educational performance later in life, only 51.9% say they would be willing to spend more in taxes to support it.

Treasure Valley residents view agriculture (24.3%) as the most important sector in the region’s economy, followed by small business (18.0%), high tech (17.2%), education (10.3%), health care (9.7%), and construction (9%).

Attitudes about the region’s economy are also positive, with 64.8% rating the Treasure Valley economy as either excellent or good. These figures are particularly stark when compared to attitudes about the national economy, which only 28.7% reported as either excellent or good. 89.5% of respondents believe their personal financial situation will either stay the same or improve.

Slightly more Treasure Valley residents think unemployment will go down than up. Expectations about other economic trends are less positive, however; a majority of respondents believe housing (75.9%), health care (74.5%), and gas (56.7%) costs will go up over the next year.

Treasure Valley residents provide mixed responses when asked which level of government they look to most often to provide services. About one-third (33.1%) of respondents say they look to city government most often, compared to 21.2% and 20.4% for state and county government, respectively; only 11.3% say they look most often to the federal government. Interestingly, when
asked which level of government should be providing the most services, more than one-third (35.6%) named the state government, followed by 27.9% for the city government, and less than 14% for both county and federal government.

When asked about the quality of the government services received, considering what they pay in taxes, Treasure Valley Residents are generally satisfied: more than two-thirds (67.3%) rate government services as either good or fair, with an additional 10.2% suggesting they are excellent.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) strongly or somewhat favor their town or city having the ability to vote on a “local option” tax, which could provide funding for infrastructure and other community projects. About one-third of residents are opposed, however, with nearly 20% strongly so. Further, when asked if they would favor or oppose a proposed local option tax in their community, more respondents were in opposition (47.8%) than in favor (41.8%), with the greatest number of respondents suggesting they would be strongly opposed (30.9%).

Treasure Valley Residents are primarily drivers. About 90% of those with a commute report driving to work, with most commutes taking between 11-30 minutes (60.5%). Although less than 1 percent report using public transportation to get to work, nearly two-thirds (64.9%) favor building new commuter rail service that would link major residential, entertainment, and employment centers throughout the region on existing rail line, with the largest group strongly in favor (37.5%). Interestingly, when asked about their support if a local option sales tax would be used to pay this service, favorability drops by 8%.

Would you say that you favor or oppose building a new commuter rail service on existing rail line to link major residential, entertainment, and employment centers throughout the Treasure Valley?

If there were a funding mechanism such as a local option sales tax that could pay for some of the associated costs with building a new commuter rail service on existing rail line to link major residential, entertainment, and employment centers throughout the Treasure Valley, would you favor or oppose that plan?

Although it has been covered widely by area media, only a small number of respondents (14.7%) identified homelessness in the Treasure Valley as a major problem; significantly more viewed the matter as somewhat of a problem (49.4%) or a small problem (27.6%). Nevertheless, nearly a third of respondents (29.4%) think homelessness in the Treasure Valley has gotten worse, compared to just over half (52.7%) who believe homelessness has stayed about the same and 7.9% who believe it has gotten better. When it comes to solving the problem, residents are split, with 42.3% saying responsibility should fall to privately funded organizations such as non-profits and religious charities, compared to 45.6% who believe publicly funded government programs should be responsible.

Treasure Valley residents are also divided about the affordability of home ownership in the area; 49.4% do not think a majority of residents in the region can afford to buy a home, compared to 43.8% who believe a majority of residents can. A majority of respondents also favor spending government money to build low-income housing facilities, with favorability increasing slightly (+3.7%) among those who strongly or somewhat favor) when the respondent is informed that over 10,000 additional housing units are necessary to house those who would qualify for affordable housing programs.

Many of these units would likely be built on current farmland. When asked to choose between preserving farmland and increasing affordable housing, more Treasure Valley residents prioritize farmland preservation (57.2%) than do affordable housing (32.2%). Indeed, when asked how concerned they were about the loss of farmland as a result of urban growth in the Treasure Valley, 78.9% of respondents said they were either extremely, very, or somewhat concerned, compared to only 19.6% who said they were not at all concerned.

Overall, the results of this survey show that while Treasure Valley residents rate living here quite favorably, attitudes are mixed when it comes to key questions concerning major issues such as education, housing, and transportation. This is particularly so when considering the consistent gap
between support for potential public policy actions and willingness to increase taxes or dedicate existing revenues to fund them.