CITY OF LONGMONT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY REPORT OF RESULTS August 2008 Prepared by: 3005 30th Street • Boulder, CO 80301 • 303-444-7863 • www.n-r-c.com City of Longmont Customer Satisfaction Survey August 2008 Table of Contents Executive Summary............................................................................................................ 1 Survey Background ............................................................................................................4 Longmont Quality of Life...................................................................................................8 Overall Quality of Life ............................................................................................................................... 8 Quality of Life and Community................................................................................................................ 10 Community Characteristics ...................................................................................................................... 13 Issues Facing the Community...........................................................................................16 Potential Problems in the Community ...................................................................................................... 18 Reasons for Optimism in the Community................................................................................................. 20 Growth ............................................................................................................................21 Evaluation of City Services...............................................................................................22 Overall Satisfaction with City Services ..................................................................................................... 22 Quality of City Services............................................................................................................................ 24 Importance of City Services...................................................................................................................... 28 Balancing Quality and Importance ........................................................................................................... 31 Contacting City Government ...........................................................................................34 Contact with City Government................................................................................................................. 34 City Employee Ratings ............................................................................................................................. 37 Public Information...........................................................................................................41 Community Participation.................................................................................................43 Policy Questions ..............................................................................................................45 Appendix I. Respondent Characteristics ..........................................................................54 Appendix II. Survey Methodology....................................................................................58 Appendix III. Complete Set of Survey Frequencies ..........................................................61 Appendix IV. Verbatim Responses ...................................................................................79 Appendix V. Comparison of Responses by Ward of Residence......................................116 Appendix VI. Jurisdictions Included In Benchmark Comparisons..................................120 Appendix VII. Survey Instruments .................................................................................125 PREPARED BY NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER, INC. City of Longmont Customer Satisfaction Survey August 2008 List of Tables Table 1: Overall Quality of Life by Demographics.......................................................................................... 9 Table 2: Quality of Community .................................................................................................................... 10 Table 3: Overall Quality of Life by Demographics........................................................................................ 12 Table 4: Community Characteristics ............................................................................................................. 14 Table 5: Community Characteristics Compared Over Time .......................................................................... 15 Table 6: Biggest Problems Longmont Will Face in Next Five Years............................................................... 17 Table 7: Potential Problems.......................................................................................................................... 18 Table 8: Potential Problems.......................................................................................................................... 19 Table 9: Biggest Reasons for Optimism for Longmont in the Next Five Years................................................ 20 Table 10: Quality of City Services................................................................................................................. 25 Table 11: Quality of City Services Compared Over Time.............................................................................. 27 Table 12: Importance of City Services........................................................................................................... 29 Table 13: Importance of City Services Compared Over Time........................................................................30 Table 14: Comparison of Services with Higher Importance and Lower Quality: Longmont Over Time ......... 33 Table 15: Most Commonly Contacted Services in the Past 24 Months Compared Over Time ....................... 35 Table 16: Top Reasons for Most Recently Contacting the City of Longmont Compared Over Time............... 36 Table 17: Ratings of City Employee .............................................................................................................. 38 Table 18: Ratings of City Employee Compared Over Time ...........................................................................38 Table 19: Ratings of City Employee by Demographics.................................................................................. 39 Table 20: Sources of Information about the City of Longmont....................................................................... 41 Table 21: Amount of Information Received from the City of Longmont Compared Over Time...................... 42 Table 22: Likelihood of Community Participation......................................................................................... 43 Table 23: Preference for Type of Redevelopment by Support for Redevelopment of Twin Peaks Mall........... 46 Table 24: Support for or Opposition to Potential Redevelopment Components for Twin Peaks Mall............. 46 Table 25: Preferences for City Council Election Campaigns .......................................................................... 48 Table 26: Maximum Contributions to City Council Election Campaigns ....................................................... 49 Table 27: Support For or Opposition to Increasing Sales Tax Rates to Fund Construction of New Facilities... 50 Table 28: Priorities for General Fund Budget ................................................................................................ 51 PREPARED BY NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER, INC. City of Longmont Customer Satisfaction Survey August 2008 List of Figures Figure 1: Overall Quality of Life ..................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 2: Overall Quality of Life Compared Over Time .................................................................................. 8 Figure 3: Longmont Quality of Life Ratings Over Time ................................................................................. 11 Figure 4: Rate of Population Growth in Longmont........................................................................................ 21 Figure 5: Population Growth Compared Over Time ..................................................................................... 21 Figure 6: Overall Satisfaction with City Services ........................................................................................... 22 Figure 7: Overall Satisfaction with City Services Compared Over Time ........................................................ 22 Figure 8: Reasons for Satisfaction Rating Compared Over Time ....................................................................23 Figure 9: Balancing Quality and Importance................................................................................................. 32 Figure 10: Contact with City of Longmont .................................................................................................... 34 Figure 11: Contact with the City Compared Over Time ................................................................................ 34 Figure 12: Overall Impression of City Employee........................................................................................... 37 Figure 13: Overall Impression of City Employee Compared Over Time .......................................................