"I hope people will make the most of this opportunity . . . we need to take the public with us," he said.
Mr Baldock said the survey would not be limited to the person who received the water bill but could be filled out in libraries or online.
The only opposing vote was Councillor Gail McIntosh who complained that no figures had been supplied on how much the survey would cost. "It is poor decision making on our part."
She was also concerned there were no safeguards to prevent multiple votes from people who felt passionately about a particular issue.
Mr Baldock said the council did not know the cost because it did not know how many people would respond.
"If 10,000 people respond it will be money well spent . . . the cost is worth it, it will improve our democracy."
Deputy mayor Kelvin Clout said it was a fantastic tool to find out what people thought about a particular issue. Councillor Rick Curach agreed it would gauge community feelings but said it was a blunt tool compared with a scientific telephone survey.
Councillor Max Mason said it was not perfect but it was a step in the right direction.
Mayor Greg Brownless said people with strong views would either say the survey was great or flawed, depending on whether the result matched their opinions.
Tauranga polling company Key Research led the development of the first survey to ensure the wording was "appropriate".
The gambling question will ask whether the council should review its policy dealing with pokie machines. The options were the status quo (one machine per 220 head of population), a sinking lid on the number of machines, or a cap on the number of machines regardless of population growth
The election representation options were the status quo (four at-large and six ward councillors), all councillors elected at large from across the whole city or all elected from wards.
Have your say
Tauranga's new community surveys
- Provide feedback on topics of public interest
- Will not necessarily trigger a policy review
- All feedback is confidential
- Progressively reported back as aggregate summaries