Thursday, March 11, 2010
Residents rank City services with solid scores
AIRDRIE, ALBERTA –Residents gave Airdrie a high-ranking 98 percent rating for quality of life in the annual Citizen Satisfaction Survey, the highest score in a group of ¬17 other municipalities surveyed by Banister Research. The overall Citizen Satisfaction Index rose slightly and is the second-highest index rating the City has achieved at 3.83 out of a possible 5.0.
Overall quality of City of Airdrie services received an 83 percent satisfaction rating with individual services increasing in all areas except in Municipal Enforcement; winter snow and ice control and emergency services. Efficiency of services received a 78 percent.
| 2008 | 2009 | |
| Emergency services |
90% | 87% |
| RCMP | 80% | 86% |
| Parks | 83% | 84% |
| Garbage collection | 77% | 81% |
| City web site | 59% | 66% |
| Recycling Programs | 61% | 62% |
| Summer road maintenance | 42% | 60% |
| Municipal Enforcement | 58% | 51% |
| Winter snow and ice control | 42% | 38% |
| City transit | 33% | 37% |
Genesis Place received a significantly higher rating than last survey at 88 percent, up 10 percent. When asked if residents would be willing to share a cab ride with another resident during off-peak times as opposed to a bus, 56 percent said yes. The question of supporting an increase in taxes to provide enhanced snow and ice control received 33 percent in favour and 53 percent stating the current level of service is sufficient. The question, “overall, I consider my community a safe place to live,” received agreement from 93 percent of respondents (strongly agree and agree), with perceptions of safety receiving the highest marks amongst other municipalities surveyed by the consultant.
“Administration and Council place high value on the feedback from our residents that this survey provides,” says Dorian Kachur, Business Strategy Team Leader, City of Airdrie. “It gives City Administration a good sense of areas that are performing well and meeting customer expectations, and those that customers value but have a perceived gap between expectations and service delivery.”
This year’s survey was conducted by telephone between January 5 and January 11, 2010. The survey included random telephone interviews with 400 Airdrie residents, aged 18 years or older. The overall index is derived based on the mean rating for the below topics:
• Management of affairs of the community - 79% (down 1%)
• Management of community growth and development – 59% (down 1%)
• Quality of services – 83% (up 1%)
• Efficiency of services- 78% (down 1%)
• Value for tax dollar – 70% (down 2%)
• Quality of life – 98 (up 1%)
The top five mentions included: infrastructure, traffic, roads, train tracks, and construction (31%), down from 54% last year; rapid growth management (18%), up from 15%; snow removal (17%), up from 10%; health care - not enough hospitals, doctors, clinics (12%), same as last year; and recreational facilities, parks, bike paths and dog parks (11%), which was not in the top five mentions last year. Mentions of crime (drugs/community safety/lack of policing) came off the top five mentions in this year’s survey.
The results are used by the departments in their annual business planning process, and in Council’s strategic planning sessions to help determine priorities and resource allocation for the upcoming year(s). While the survey provides high-level information, staff may choose to probe the results in order to get more detailed information on an area. For example, snow and ice control focus groups were conducted this past year as a direct result of last year’s survey.
“Administration is pleased with the consistency of results in our major indicators, and in particular that Airdrie residents continue to rate their quality of life in Airdrie very highly,” says Kachur. “The organization will continue to work to achieve a high level of satisfaction with service delivery along with fiscal responsibility, while balancing the needs of today with the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainability.”
Results are accurate to ±4.8 percent at the 95 percent confidence level, (19 times out of 20) giving assurance the results are representative of the entire population. The survey was conducted by Banister Research & Consulting Inc.