Survey says – Fountain Hills residents have a positive view of their town and services provided by local government.

Ryan Murray with ETC Institute presented the results of a community survey conducted by his company for the Town. Murray spoke to the council at its Feb. 22 retreat and at the March 1 regular Town Council meeting. ETC is considered a national leader in market research for local governmental organizations.

Murray said the survey results indicate that 94% rated the overall quality of life in Fountain Hills as “excellent” or “good.” Also, 78% consider the overall quality of services provided by the Town “excellent” or “good.”

When compared to other communities nationwide Murray said Fountain Hills scores much higher with residents. Fountain Hills rated above the U.S. average in 33 of the 41 areas that were assessed, and significantly above the average (4.5% or greater) in 23 of those categories.

The overall quality of life in Fountain Hills is rated 13.5% higher than the national average.

The objective of the survey was to assess resident satisfaction with the delivery of Town services, compare the Town’s performance with residents’ opinion regionally and nationally and help determine priorities for the community.

This is the first time ETC conducted such a survey for the Town of Fountain Hills. Murray explained that the company mailed 2,000 surveys to residents in all parts of the community. The objective was to receive 400 responses. There were 465 surveys returned. In terms of efficacy, there is a +/- 4.5% margin of error with a 95% level of confidence. The survey used a five-point scale with five meaning excellent and one being poor. “Don’t know” responses were excluded.

The survey did identify certain areas where satisfaction is low and improvement is needed. These include effectiveness of Town’s communication with the public. This was rated as “very satisfied” or “satisfied” by 62% of respondents, with 9% being “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied.” The remainder were neutral in response.

Maintenance of Town streets and infrastructure scored 50% as “very satisfied” or “satisfied.” There were 26% responding “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied.”

Enforcement of Town codes and ordinances received 47% satisfied or very satisfied response and 17% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

When asked what they were willing to reduce or eliminate in the event services need to be cut drastically, code enforcement and communications with the public were both in the top three responses.

When compared to national responses, effectiveness of Town communications with the public is very close to the national average, actually about a percentage point higher, 61.5% (local) to 60.6% (national).

When comparing perceptions of the Town, Fountain Hills scored above the national average when it comes to overall quality of life (94.3%/77.4%), overall appearance of the Town (90.2%/65.6%), overall quality of services provided by the Town (78.2%/72.1%) and how well the Town treats residents regardless of age, disability, gender or other characteristics (69.1%/55.7%).

The perception of Town leadership is below average (47.6%/56.5%). Perception of citizens’ ability to participate in the Town’s decision-making process is also low (33.1%/40.6%).

In asking where residents get their information about the Town of Fountain Hills they were asked to check as many of 11 choices as applied. The Fountain Hills Times was the top selection with 75.9%. Word of mouth was second at 61.7%. There was also a combination of six Town-hosted resources that scored including 49.2% to the Town website. People also get information from the Town’s newsletter, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.

Town officials said they will continue to work with ETC in an effort to advance the areas needing improvement. A follow-up survey to measure progress is likely in about three years.

The complete survey documents are available to review at the town website, fountainhillsaz.gov/157/town-manager.