City of Auburn Citizen Survey Findings Report …helping organizations make better decisions since 1982 2018 Submitted to the City of Auburn By: ETC Institute 725 W. Frontier Lane, Olathe, Kansas 66061 March 2018 Contents Cover Letter ................................................................................... i Section 1: Charts and Graphs ....................................................... 1 Section 2: Benchmarking Analysis .............................................. 38 Section 3: Importance‐Satisfaction Analysis .............................. 53 Section 4: Tabular Data .............................................................. 73 Section 5: Survey Instrument ................................................... 123 City of Auburn Citizen Survey Report Executive 2018 City of Auburn Citizen Survey Executive Summary Purpose and Methodology Summary ETC Institute administered a survey to residents of the City of Auburn during January and February of 2018. The purpose of the survey was to help the City of Auburn establish budget priorities and shape policy decisions. The results will also help City leaders gauge how successful they have been in providing quality services to residents and identify areas of improvement. The City of Auburn has administered an annual citizen survey since 1985. The seven‐page survey, cover letter and postage paid return envelope were mailed to a random sample of households in the City of Auburn. The cover letter explained the purpose of the survey Report and encouraged residents to either return their survey by mail or complete the survey online. At the end of the online survey, residents were asked to enter their home address. This was done to ensure that only responses from residents who were part of the random sample were included in the final survey database. Ten days after the surveys were mailed, ETC Institute sent emails and placed phone calls to the households that received the survey to encourage participation. The emails contained a link to the on‐line version of the survey to make it easy for residents to complete the survey. To prevent people who were not residents of Auburn from participating, everyone who completed the survey on‐line was required to enter their home address prior to submitting the survey. ETC Institute then matched the addresses that were entered on‐line with the addresses that were originally selected for the random sample. If the address from a survey completed on‐ line did not match one of the addresses selected for the sample, the on‐line survey was not counted. The map to the right shows the location of all survey respondents. The goal was to obtain completed surveys from at least 600 residents. The goal was exceeded with a total of 806 residents completing the survey. The overall results for the sample of Page i City of Auburn Citizen Survey Report Executive 806 households have a precision of at least +/‐3.45% at the 95% level of confidence. The percentage of “don’t know” responses has been excluded from many of the graphs shown in this report to facilitate valid comparisons of the results from Auburn with the results from other communities in ETC Institute’s DirectionFinder® database. Since the number of “don’t know” responses often reflects the utilization and awareness of city services, the percentage of “don’t know” responses has been provided in the tabular data section of this report. When the “don’t know” responses have been excluded, the text of this report will indicate that the responses have Summary been excluded with the phrase “who had an opinion.” *When trends are discussed in this report a significant increase, decrease, or difference is a change of +/‐4%. This report contains: An executive summary of the methodology for administering the survey and major findings, charts showing the overall results for most questions on the survey benchmarking data that shows how the results for Auburn compare to other communities, Report importance‐satisfaction analysis tables that show the results of the random sample for each question on the survey, a copy of the survey instrument. Overall Perceptions of the City Eighty‐eight percent (88%) of residents surveyed, who had an opinion, were satisfied with the quality of life in the City; only 4% were dissatisfied and the remaining 8% gave a neutral rating. Eighty‐four percent (84%) of residents surveyed, who had an opinion, were also satisfied with the overall image of the City, 83% were satisfied with the overall quality of City services, 74% were satisfied with the value received for their City tax dollars and fees, and 73% were satisfied with the overall appearance of the City. None of the items related to perceptions of the City showed significant increases in positive ratings from 2017 to 2018. Only one item; overall appearance of the City (‐4%) showed a significant decrease in positive ratings from 2017. Overall Satisfaction with City Services The major categories of City services that had the highest levels of satisfaction, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion, were: the overall quality of police, fire, and ambulance services (91%), overall quality of the City’s school system (91%), the overall quality of City library services (88%), and the overall quality of parks and recreation services (82%). There were no significant changes in positive ratings in any of the major categories of City services rated from 2017. The overall areas that residents thought should receive the most emphasis from the City of Auburn over the next two years were: 1) flow of traffic and congestion management, 2) maintenance of City infrastructure, and 3) the quality of the City’s school system. These were the same three priorities from the 2017 survey results. Page ii City of Auburn Citizen Survey Report Executive Feelings of Safety Ninety‐seven percent (97%) of residents surveyed, who had an opinion, indicated they feel either “very safe” or “safe” in their neighborhood during the day. Ninety‐two percent (92%) of residents indicated they feel safe in Auburn in general, and 89% of residents feel safe in Downtown Auburn and in their neighborhood at night. There were no significant changes in positive ratings in any of the safety issues rated from 2017. Summary Satisfaction with Specific City Services Public Safety. The highest levels of satisfaction with public safety services, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion, were: the overall quality of fire protection (94%), fire personnel emergency response time (92%), and the overall quality of police protection (90%). The public safety services residents felt should receive the most emphasis from City leaders over the next two years were: 1) efforts to prevent crime, 2) the visibility of police in neighborhoods, and Report 3) the overall quality of police protection. There were no significant changes in positive ratings in any of the public safety issues rated from 2017. Code Enforcement. The highest levels of satisfaction with City code enforcement, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion, were: the cleanup of debris and litter (80%), and the cleanup of large junk and abandoned vehicles (76%). The code enforcement services residents felt should receive the most emphasis from City leaders over the next two years were: 1) the cleanup of overgrown and weedy lots, 2) the cleanup of debris and litter, and 3) efforts to remove dilapidated structures. There were no significant increases in positive ratings from 2017. There were three items that showed a significant decrease in positive ratings from 2017: the cleanup of large junk and abandoned vehicles (‐5%), the cleanup of overgrown and weedy lots (‐7%), and efforts to remove dilapidated structures (‐10%). Garbage and Water Services. The highest levels of satisfaction with garbage and water services, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion, were: residential garbage collection services (92%), yard waste removal services (84%), and water services (83%). The garbage and water services residents felt should receive the most emphasis from City leaders over the next two years were: 1) curbside recycling services overall and 2) material types accepted for recycling. The two items that showed significant increases in satisfaction from 2017 were: material types accepted for recycling (+9%) and curbside recycling services overall (+5%). There were no significant decreases in positive ratings from 2017. Development and Redevelopment in the City. The highest levels of satisfaction with development and redevelopment in the City, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion, were: the overall appearance of Downtown Auburn (67%), the quality of new business development (64%), and the quality of new industrial development (64%). The one item that showed a Page iii City of Auburn Citizen Survey Report Executive significant increase in satisfaction from 2017 was the quality of new industrial development (+4%). The two items that showed a significant decrease from 2017 were: the overall appearance of Downtown Auburn (‐4%) and the City’s planning for future growth (‐5%). Parks and Recreation. The highest levels of satisfaction with parks and recreation services,