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# Residents awaiting the $100M question
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/residents-awaiting-the-100m-question/
- Published: 2005-12-17T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T08:19:00.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Water under the bridge? Survey aims to find out*

The local government will join forces with the city of Calabasas on a public opinion survey that’s intended to gauge residents on their willingness to pay for nearly $100 million in water pollution remedies.

It was agreed among officials this week that both governments will split the cost 50/50 of a phone poll to survey hundreds of residents in the cities. Santa Monica will pay up to $25,000, after $10,000 in grant funding, to research companies Conservation Strategy Group and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates.

Both Santa Monica and Calabasas governments are contemplating ways to pay for improvements to meet recently-passed regulations by the Regional Water Quality Board aimed at improving water quality in Southern California watersheds. (See related story).

Santa Monica officials estimate a $95 million bond will be necessary to take action on a citywide watershed protection plan, as well as doubling a $36 stormwater parcel fee.

But before putting that question to voters, officials want to gauge their interest.

“Calabasas officials have approached Santa Monica with a proposal to poll jointly to achieve economies of scale while still providing each community with results that are at an appropriate level of confidence,” city staff wrote this month in a memo to the Santa Monica City Council. “Completion of the two-city public opinion research effort envisioned will provide the city councils of each community with important information about what new funding sources local voters might be willing to support to achieve water quality improvements.”

Hundreds of Santa Monica residents will receive phone calls in January by researchers asking them a series of questions that pertain to their thoughts on water pollution and their feelings of whether or not they would support paying for prevention measures, said Richard Maullin, president of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, a local public opinion research firm.

Residents will be selected by random sampling, which is drawn from a list of voters who have valid phone numbers. The aggregate results are then statistically analyzed and cross-tabulated based on what each city wants to know about the respondents.

Because Santa Monica has about 50,000 voters, it’s up to the research firms to get an accurate assessment of how people feel based on a small percentage of people polled.

“It’s a question of how you make a small sampling speak for a large universe,” Maullin said, adding a margin of error is calculated into the final results.

Maullin’s firm and Conservation Strategy Group will meet with Santa Monica officials to determine exactly what they want to get out of the survey and then tailor the questions to get precise answers.

One issue on the minds of local government officials is whether or not a $95 million bond proposal should be asked in November of 2006 if the Santa Monica-Malibu School District plans to put a measure on the ballot to pay for new facilities.

“Traditionally, we have deferred ballot measures if the school district was doing a measure because of voter fatigue,” said Santa Monica Interim City Manager Gordon Anderson.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/121705-02_02.jpg)

litters the beach near the Pico/Kenter storm drain following a heavy rainfall. (Photo: File photo Pollution)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 17, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121705.pdf?ref=smdp.com)