Voter survey points to strong support for local investment in green Space

The Community Foundation of Greenville (CFG) and the Greenville County Historic and Natural Resources Trust (the Trust) released findings from a public opinion survey regarding issues of importance to local voters and the use of tax dollars

The Community Foundation of Greenville (CFG) and the Greenville County Historic and Natural Resources Trust (the Trust) today released findings from a public opinion survey regarding issues of importance to local voters and the use of tax dollars.

“While most Greenville County residents likely do not even know that the Historic and Natural Resources Trust exists, they are overwhelmingly supportive of using their tax dollars to add to parks, protect historic sites, as well as ensure that working farms and forests across the county remain in their natural state,” said Pam Shucker, Chair of the Trust.

Carlton Owen, Technical Advisor to the Trust and a former founding member of the Board as well as longserving Chair said, “In just four years the Trust has worked to help protect open spaces across the county equivalent to 40 Unity Parks or an area two-thirds the size of Paris Mountain State Park. With a tangible record including 22 projects, we felt it was a good time to assess public interest in and support for our work.”

Results of the poll highlight three key findings, Owen said:

• Concern about loss of green space is a black and white issue with voters. Fully 91% of respondents expressed concern, with less than 9% unconcerned. Only 0.3% did not have a view.
• Nearly 8 in 10 expressed support for using a portion of their tax dollars for the work of the Trust.
• 93 of 100 respondents said the county should continue to invest tax dollars in open space conservation at least at current levels ($2 million/year), with 66% of those saying, “invest more.”

The survey was conducted in early April with responses from a representative cross-section of the population. Robert Cahaly, Principal of the Atlanta-based Trafalgar Group that conducted the survey, noted that 600 responses is what he termed a “deep poll.” In briefing survey sponsors about the results Cahaly noted that even he was surprised by the fact that “keeping taxes low and reducing spending” fell a distant fourth in issues important to voters and their families to “controlling growth & development,” “improving roads & traffic,” and even “reducing the cost of living.”

Other results of the survey include:

• “Controlling growth & development” and “improving roads & traffic” were ranked as the top two issues of concern to citizens among seven topics listed.
• In addition to use of their tax dollars to protect open spaces, respondents ranked impact fees for new development and a one-cent sales tax to fix roads & bridges with a “green” component as preferred options

A companion survey open to any Greenville County resident received 330 responses with results mirroring, but in every case expressing even greater support for the work of the Trust than those of the statistically valid poll. Full results are available on the Trust website at www.gchnrt.org