From the City of Sugar Land:
The results of Sugar Land’s 2017 Citizen Satisfaction Survey show that 97 percent of respondents rated the city as an “excellent” or “good” place to live and 96 percent rated the city as “excellent” or “good” place to raise children.
The Citizen Satisfaction Survey measures and assesses citizen satisfaction with the delivery of major city services and helps set community priorities for improved services and long-range planning. Core areas surveyed included public safety (police, fire and emergency management), public works/utilities (streets and transportation, code enforcement and water service), parks and recreation, communications, quality of life, overall city services and satisfaction with city services for dollars paid.
Sugar Land rated the same as or above the national average in 95 of 97 areas compared. Sugar Land’s overall quality of city services are 34 percent above the national average and 36 percent above Texas cities.
The city engaged ETC Institute, the nation’s leading community-based market research firm, to conduct a demographically representative survey. Citizens completed the surveys during November, just after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the region and broke all records for rainfall totals.
Excerpts from the survey follow:
- Ninety‐four percent believe Sugar Land is an “excellent” or “good” place they are proud to call home.
- Ninety‐one percent of those surveyed, who had an opinion, indicated they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the overall quality of life in their community, a figure well above the United States and Texas averages.
- Eighty‐three percent of the residents surveyed, who had an opinion, indicated they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the overall quality of services provided by the City. Nationally, only 49 percent of respondents were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the overall quality of the services provided by their local government. The city of Sugar Land also saw ratings significantly above the Texas average of 47 percent.
- 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 quality of police, fire and ambulance service (94 percent); the overall quality of trash and recycling services (89 percent); overall efforts by city government in your area to ensure the community is prepared for emergencies (85 percent); and the overall quality of wastewater utility services (84 percent).
- Ninety‐five percent of respondents, who had an opinion, indicated they feel “very safe” or “safe” when walking in their neighborhood during the day. Overall, 89 percent of respondents, who had an opinion, indicated they feel “very safe” or “safe” in their community.
- Sixty-eight percent indicated they are “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the value received for city taxes and fees. This was 30 percent above the national average and 36 percent above the state average. When neutral responses are included, the overall satisfaction rating for value received for city taxes and fees increases to 93 percent.
“The benchmarking section of this report is probably the most impressive,” said Ryan Murray, of ETC Institute. “I don’t think I have ever seen a community in Texas perform this well against our national benchmarks.”
Established in 1999, ETC is nationally-recognized for its research and is located in Olathe, Kan. Since its founding, ETC has surveyed more than a million people in 500 cities and 48 states including Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, San Francisco and many more.
ETC Institute guarantees the results of Sugar Land’s 2017 Citizen Satisfaction Survey are statistically representative of the City. Sugar Land’s survey was administered utilizing a combination of mail, phone and the Internet.
Sugar Land’s scores exceeded state and national benchmarks by a large margin across the board.
While the survey results were overwhelmingly positive, data suggests the city should focus resources on continued efforts to address traffic, especially the Highway 6 corridor. The flow of traffic and congestion management was the only item identified as a high priority in ETC Institute’s importance-satisfaction analysis.
“Since we began conducting these surveys in 2004, the city has received high ratings on almost all factors rated,” said City Manager Allen Bogard. “According to our citizen survey results, I’m proud to say our report card is excellent; however, we will by no means remain complacent with the high marks received. We intend to scrutinize the results to find opportunities for ongoing improvement. For example, improving the flow of traffic and managing congestion was identified as being the most important opportunity for improvement.”
Sugar Land City Council recently approved more than $846,000 to expand existing adaptive signal control and wireless vehicle detection at intersections throughout Sugar Land.
The project is part of an ongoing effort to improve mobility along major thoroughfares through Sugar Land, including State Highway 6, U.S. Highway 90A and University Boulevard.
In addition, Sugar Land recently completed extensive right of way acquisitions necessary for further improvements to State Highway 6.
View the complete report at www.sugarlandtx.gov/css.
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