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And the Survey Says.....

By 250 News

Monday, March 15, 2010 09:04 PM

Prince George, B.C.- There is very little change in the community survey results gathered most recently when compared to similar surveys conducted over the past several years.
 
The return rate of the surveys remains low, about 9% for the most recent package of questions. Three thousand  surveys were sent out,  only 272 were returned. Typically the return rate ranges from 9% to 12%.
 
The respondents are mostly male, over 50 and Caucasian.
 
Respondents were asked to rank their satisfaction with the current level of some of the City services on a seven-point scale from "very dissatisfied" to "very satisfied". Fire protection received the highest ranking, with an average rank of 6.1
 
Road and Street maintenance were at the opposite end of the scale with a ranking of 2.6
 
Fire protection, police protection and road/street maintenance were the top three services where respondents wanted their tax dollars spent.
 
In response to the items asking for consultation regarding debt financing, a majority of respondents suggested a desire for the city to maintain debt financing at less than 10% of the annual budget (55.2%).   
An additional 33% indicated a desire for debt financing between 11 and 15% suggesting approximately 88% of respondents desired debt financing lower than 15%. About three quarters of respondents indicated a lack of willingness for increased taxes in order to pay for big projects without borrowing money (72%) or to pay for interest.
 
Sustainability was evaluated using the question “Thinking of sustainability as the long-term
wellness of our community for multiple generations, how important are the following sustainability goals to you?”
Items ranked in the High Range included:
  •  Good quality drinking water (6.4)
  •  Fiscal responsibility in government (6.3)
  •  Air quality (6.1)
  •  Public safety (6.1)
  •  Healthy citizens (6.0)
  •  Economic stability(5.8)

 When it comes to quality of life, overall, residents felt overwhelming satisfied with the conditions of their lives although many indicated that they had not achieved all their aspirations and that they would do some things differently if given a second chance. Similarly, residents reported being very happy, having a life that measured up to similar others and having a life that met their needs. However, many respondents felt that there had been a time in their life that was “better” than current times.

QOL items endorsed in the high range included:
  •  Living partner (6.3)
  •  Neighborhood (6.0)
  •  Family relations, generally (6.0)
  •  Life as a whole (6.0)
  •  Friendships (5.9)
  •  Overall standard of living (5.9)
  •  Self esteem (5.9)
  •  Sense of meaning in life (5.8)
  •  Overall quality of life (5.8)
  •  Job (5.8)
  •  Housing situation (5.7)
  •  Drinking-water quality (5.7)
  •  Community friendliness (5.6)
  •  Spiritual fulfillment (5.5)
  •  Life achievement (5.5)
  •  Local primary and secondary schools (5.5)

 Councilor Brian Skakun  is hopeful  the City will take action  on some of the items "I think there are some cases here where people are telling us there is a leak in our ship, and  instead of dealing with the leak,  we are often being told to move to the  other side of the ship to balance things out.  I think we need to deal with  these things."

Mayor Dan Rogers says this is not the only way the City gets information, "This is a piece of the information" but says when  married to other information,  it all combines to help  Council   in its decision making.

 


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Comments

In the city debt and interest financing part of the survey it said the following:

Most respondents want the city to "stop building new projects and maintain what we have" (70.2%)
The paltry 9% that bothered to return the survey...

It's too bad, because I think it's an indicator of what most people feel. It's easy for the powers that be to dismiss the findings.

I got one of the surveys and returned it, and it's too bad that others didn't feel the same way.
Why mostly males???
Women know that the survey will be ignored if it does not fall within the wants of council?
Why not mostly males?