Columbia city survey indicates resident support for tax increase to hire more police officers, firefighters

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Police numbers, sidewalk improvements, homelessness and improved housing opportunities are the top priorities of more than 800 Columbia households that responded to the city's annual Community Survey Findings Report.

According to city documents, the survey was completed by 804 random households. Around 84% of survey respondents have lived in Columbia for six or more years.

Around 70% of respondents called Columbia an "excellent" or "good" place to live; while 63% said Columbia was an "excellent" or "good" place to raise a family.

When survey participants were asked to pick four issues for the city to focus on over the next two years, out of a list of 14 topics, the top four issues were:

• 59.1% want an increase in police,
• 49.4% want improvements in sidewalks
• 45.4% want better management of homelessness
• 34.2% want more or better quality housing opportunities.

The surveys sent out during the first week in November, around five weeks after the fatal shooting in downtown Columbia that left a Stephens College student dead and others injured. A variety of responses from local leaders persisted in the weeks following the shooting.

The survey indicates that 69% of respondents did not think Columbia has enough police officers and firefighters. Of that total, 55% said they would support a tax to increase the number of police officers and firefighters in the city.  

Additionally, city documents show that 66% of respondents who had an opinion were “very supportive” or “somewhat supportive” of the city having a voluntary “voluntary integration/sharing of privately owned cameras; while 54% supported using facial recognition technology. Discussions around surveillance have been a hot topic in recent years, with Flock cameras as license-plate readers being approved by the City Council in 2024. Another camera system, Fusus, was declined by the council in 2022.

When asked to pick three areas for improvement for the next two years from a list of 10 public safety topics, the top three issues were:

• 65.7% of people are concerned about overall gun violence
• 60.8% were concerned about juveniles being involved in criminal activity
• 42.3% were concerned with overall violent crime

58% of respondents felt unsafe in downtown Columbia in the evenings.

Of the City's over 400 open-ended comments, around 10 mention guns or shootings, 25 mention panhandling and 100 mention homeless people.

The City Council is set to review the results of the survey on Tuesday during a pre-council meeting at 5 p.m.