A West Coast-polling organization, EMC, has been hired to ask Alameda residents about several new tax proposals and other issues affecting the Island.

A call was received by this writer at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26, and included about 30-plus questions on the upcoming early-summer election.

The majority of the questions concerned the possibility of a 1% utility tax to pay for street and sign repairs, which would effectively raise the utility tax to 8.5%. Another option is to raise the sales tax in town 0.5% to 9.25% in order to pay for the street improvements.

Yet one more proposal includes levying a $50 a year fee on boat slips to cover emergency water-rescue and fire services.

It’s clear that opponents and supporters of the tax proposals are gearing up — so get ready to answer the survey call, which will take about 15 minutes of your time.