2019 citizen satisfaction survey results

By Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean Times Contributor

The Town of Strathmore recently released the compiled results from its 2019 citizen satisfaction survey. The survey was sent to 2,000 targeted demographic households within the municipality and had a 25 per cent response rate.
The annual survey measured responses on quality of life, programs and services, taxation and funding, communications and demographics. The feedback from residents will help Strathmore’s mayor and council navigate their way through a difficult budget.
Survey results showed that 74 per cent of respondents feel they receive good or very good value for their tax dollars, but the responses were split over whether to increase taxes to maintain or expand services or to scale back through service cuts.
“We’re happy to see that 98 per cent of residents rank our quality of life as good or very good,” Mayor Pat Fule said. “A high quality of life attracts people and businesses to move to our town, and council is working to ensure the provincial budget cuts don’t keep us from growing Strathmore.”
Municipalities across the province saw cuts to capital funding in October’s provincial budget that will impact future infrastructure projects. For those projects already in the planning stages, that could impact other areas of the budget that need to see funds re-allocated to ensure completion.
“The past five years have seen new and upgraded town facilities, improvements to our fire department and the completion of our downtown revitalization project,” Fule said. “Strathmore is investing in our quality of life so we can continue to attract new jobs and businesses to our community while making it a better place for everyone to live.”
The town also initiated public consultations on planning in September and sought suggestions and feedback to guide future development projects. Further consultations will be scheduled in the future.
Other highlights from the survey include: top three priorities for residents are property taxes (17 per cent), new/additional recreation facilities (14 per cent) and community safety (13 per cent); among town services, satisfaction was ranked highest for curbside garbage collection (84 per cent), fire department (82 per cent), and parks and pathways (80 per cent).
The survey is still available on the town’s website at Strathmore.ca if residents would like to add their input.