11/9/2009

We have to hand it to Saline County commissioners. They decided to make important decisions based on solid information. Good. Then they went about getting that info in the right way. Even better.

The question commissioners face is a nagging one: what to do with the aging Saline County Livestock and Expo Center. To gauge public interest, they engaged student and faculty members at Kansas Wesleyan University to develop a survey of Saline county residents.

That's a change from several years ago, when a different set of commissioners hired a consulting firm to explore options for the expo center, ranging from fixing up the place, to building a new facility on the same site or in a new location. They used a far less scientific method to survey the public.

The results supported the building of a new facility and that is the path commissioners took. Their plan met an ugly death in November 2006, when voters rejected a proposal to use a 0.25 percent sales tax to fund construction of a $15 million to $25 million expo center south of Farrelly Road and east of Old Highway 81.

This time around, researchers worked with commissioners to develop a written survey that was mailed to a random sample of 1,000 Saline County registered voters. There were 365 responses, which is an impressive return rate.

There were no surprises in the results. About 61.4 percent of respondents said the expo center facilities need improvement, while 3.9 percent said they would choose to increase property taxes to fund the work.

A little more than 20 percent chose raising the sales tax as a preferred funding option. The overwhelming majority, 71.7 percent, preferred a public-private partnership to finance improvements.

This survey is not perfect because it is voluntary. Results come only from those interested enough to fill it out and return it. Subsequently, it probably is not an accurate reflection of county demographics like age groups, gender and income levels.

Nonetheless, it gives commissioners far more reliable information for future planning. They were right to pursue it.

-- Tom Bell

Editor & Publisher

822-1491

tbell@salina.com

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