Many Voices One Valley

• 2007 Priorities
• 2002 Priorities

2007 Priorities

Using a scale from 0 to 10, residents assessed the importance they believe should be placed on a host of issues affecting their community. The topics ranged from health care to the economy and taxes to community services.

Overall, residents are most concerned about the need for affordable health care. This issue tops the list of priorities for Mid-Hudson Valley residents receiving a mean score, or average rating, of 8.0 out of a possible maximum score of 10. The accessibility of health insurance also ranks among the top five priorities for residents.

Economic concerns are also of primary importance to Mid-Hudson Valley residents. Keeping businesses in the area and reducing taxes both receive an average rating of 7.9 out of 10 and are surpassed on the list of priorities only by residents’ interest in affordable health care. The need for creating more jobs ranks sixth on the list with an average score of 7.6.

Education is a major priority for the region, as well. Improving the quality of the public schools receives an average score of 7.8, making it the fourth most important concern among Mid-Hudson Valley residents. The need for more after-school activities for children and teenagers also ranks among residents’ top ten priorities for the region.

Other issues that residents place in the top tier of priorities include providing services for senior citizens, making their community safer, and protecting open space.

There has been a modest shift in residents’ priorities since 2002. Five years ago, keeping businesses in the area was the highest ranked issue among residents with an average score of 7.9. Its score is unchanged but its rank slips to second as residents place added emphasis this time on making health care more affordable. The third most important concern in 2002, affordable health care, is now the leading issue.

Creating more jobs and providing services for senior citizens, although still among the top issues, have been replaced by concern for taxes and access to health insurance.

Indeed, the heightened significance of taxes throughout the region represents the greatest change in the past five years. In 2002, reducing taxes ranked as only the ninth most important priority for residents. Today, the issue of taxes is the third most important concern of residents. People in the region rate reducing taxes as a priority with an average score of 7.9 out of ten compared with 7.3 five years ago.

Residents of the Mid-Hudson Valley also feel a greater urgency to make health insurance easier to get than they did in 2002.  Five years ago, this issue ranked sixth on the list, with an average rating of 7.4.  This year, it is number five with an average score of 7.7.

Despite changes in the order of the priorities over the past five years, each of the nineteen issues resonates with residents as least as much or more than it did in 2002. The greatest increases in average scores over the past five years are for reducing taxes and for increasing the amount of affordable housing.