Calgarians give their city high marks in latest citizen satisfaction survey

Calgary's mayordescribes himself as a data nerd so the results of the city's annual citizen satisfaction survey putNaheed Nenshi into his element.

For the past 20 years, the city has paid a public opinion research firm to ask Calgarians what they think of their city, itsservices and what they value from city hall.

On Wednesday, Nenshi rolled out the latest results.

When asked about the overall quality of life in Calgary, 86 per cent of those surveyed said it was very good or good.

On whether they are satisfied with city services, 77 per cent are happy, versus justsix per cent who aren't satisfied at all. The rest are neutral.

The fire department was given a99 per cent very satisfied/somewhat satisfied response result, followed by the city's 9-1-1 service at 98 per cent satisfied.

Snow clearing a concern

The most unhappiness was found with road maintenance and pothole repairs, withjust 64 per cent reporting they were very satisfied or somewhat satisfied. Snow removal was the next lowest at 67 per cent satisfaction.

Nenshi said given the severity of last winter's weather, he wasn't surprised by thoseresults.

"Council has already invested money in increased snow removal, particularly for pedestrians on sidewalks and pathways," said Nenshi.

He added that concerns about snow removal can be read two different ways. For every person who complains about poor snow and ice control, Nenshi said he hears from someone else who saythere's no need to clear every side street.

The top issue that respondents think local leaders should pay attention to was the combined categoryof infrastructure, traffic and roads. A total of 40 per cent mentioned those, which was an increase of five percentage points from last year's survey.

'We use it in our decision making'

The mayor said the results of the survey are valuable to the city and to city council.

"We use this stuff every day. We use it in our decision making. We'll be using it next week when we talk about the budget and where we are going with the budget but also in daily decision making," said Nenshi.

For example, on proposed property tax rates.

The city's four year budget calls for a tax increase of 3.5 per cent for next year.

This latest survey found 52 per cent of Calgarians would support increased taxes if it means maintaining or expanding city services.

The number of Calgarians who want to cut services in order to maintain or reduce property taxes fell six points from last year's survey to 43 per cent.

Nenshi said he thinks the budget strikes the right balance.

"I happen to think we've come to a good place where our tax increases are lower than inflation plus population growth and we're maintaining services and increasing them in those areas where Calgarians are telling us service investments are critical."

The telephone survey of2,500 Calgarians was done for the city by Ipsos.

Both landline and cell phone customers were canvassed and the average interview length was 32 minutes.

Ipsos vice president Jamie Duncan said the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Calgary councillors accuse colleague of grandstanding with pay cut press release
• MORE CALGARY NEWS |9 people face charges after kidnapping in Calgary
• Read more articles byCBC Calgary, like us onFacebookfor updates and subscribe to ourCBC Calgary newsletterfor the day's news at a glance