Palo Alto, CA -- Beginning Friday, all Palo Alto residents will have a convenient online way to rate the services provided by the City's General Fund.

The City Manager's Office has been conducting an opinion survey with a random sample of Palo Altans. The survey, which lists City services and asks respondents to rate their importance to Palo Alto, was e-mailed by DataCycles (the City's contractor) to a group of 600 residents previously identified as part of a random sample of Utilities customers. The results, which will be made public when the survey is complete, will be provided to the City Council as part of its budget deliberations.

"As we are forced to cut the budget during these tough economic times, we need to preserve essential services," said City Manager Frank Benest. "It's important to get a true reading of Palo Alto opinion as a whole, and that's what the representative sample will provide. It's equally important to hear from each Palo Alto resident as we make some tough budget decisions."

Residents can participate in the budget survey by visiting www.datacycles.com/budgetsurvey, (beginning Friday, February 21, 2003).

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