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Village of Saint Anthony Executive Summary January, 2002 during the past year. Tax Climate and City Services: When considering the value of city services—quality versus cost—seventy-two percent rated it highly, while eighteen percent were more critical. City service evaluations were very positive overall. Fire protection, emergency medical services, and snowplowing of city streets scored very solid approval ratings of ninety percent or higher. Just behind, eighty-seven percent rated police protection positively. Eighty-three percent thought the same about pavement repair and patching on city streets, and eighty-two percent rated park maintenance positively. Seventy-nine percent rated sanitary sewer services as either"excellent" or"good,"while seventy-eight percent similarly viewed property maintenance enforcement. Animal control was identically rated by seventy-four percent. Sixty-seven percent rated recreational programs positively. But,while sixty-two percent rated accommodation and control of storm water run-off as either"excellent" or"good," a large twenty-three percent considered it to be either"only fair"or"poor." Among the reasons for critical evaluations, "flooding"was cited by forty percent, with smaller numbers pointing to "potholes," "loose animals," and "messy yards." Generally, the property tax climate in the Village of Saint Anthony must be considered "moderately hostile." Forty-two percent thought their property taxes were "high,"while a forty- one percent called them "about average." In addition, one percent classified their property taxes as "low," and sixteen percentage were "uncertain." By a solid 62%-18% margin, residents would favor an increase in their village property tax if it were needed to maintain village services at their current level. Opponents most often recommended cuts in park and recreation services to avoid higher property taxes. By an overwhelming 70%-9% verdict, respondents also opposed a reduction in city services if their village property taxes could be reduced. Again, supporters of this approach favored cuts in park and recreation services. City Government and City Staff. A substantial forty-seven percent were unable to rate the job performance of the Mayor and City Council. Overall, the Mayor and Council were awarded a job approval rating of thirty-seven percent and a disapproval rating of seventeen percent. The level of the approval rating was sixteen percent lower than the Metropolitan Area suburban norm. Not surprisingly, fifty-two percent of the community felt they knew "very little" about the Mayor and the City Council. Positive evaluations were based upon a generalized feeling they were doing a "good job" and the Page 3