By LESLIE COLLINS
Northeast News
August 29, 2012 

Kansas Citians are feeling more satisfied with city services, according to the latest Citizen Satisfaction Survey.

“I think you have a lot to be proud of,” said Chris Tatham, vice president of the ETC Institute, which administered the survey. “It’s a testament to the fact you are responding to citizen needs.”

ETC tracks more than 500 cities across the nation, and while other cities saw declines in citizen satisfaction, Kansas City saw an increase, he said.

For overall quality of leadership provided by elected officials, Kansas City recorded an historic high, said City Analyst Kate Bender. For FY 2010, 16 percent of citizens felt satisfied in that category, but by FY 2012 that number increased to 39 percent, and 35 percent said they felt neutral.

For the FY 2011-2012 survey, a random sample of 9,000 Kansas City households throughout the city was chosen to participate, and 4,725 households completed the surveys by phone or mail. That equated to a 52.5 percent response rate. While other U.S. cities average a +/- 5 percent margin of error, Kansas City has a +/- 1.5 percent margin of error, said Bender.

Tatham pointed out that Kansas City uses one of the largest sample sizes across the nation. Most cities have a sample size of 1,500 to 2,000 residents, Tatham told Northeast News. In comparison, Oklahoma City has a sample size of 1,200 residents.

Overall, the survey showed significant improvement in 32 categories, no change in 29 categories and a decline in six categories.

“It’s certainly a big difference from last year,” City Council member Jermaine Reed said.

Categories that had “major improvement” (at least a 4 percent increase) included the effectiveness of city manager and staff, how ethically the city conducts business, the quality of local ambulance service, the maintenance of parks, among others.

A 2 to 4 percent decline in satisfaction was reported in overall quality of water utilities, overall quality of public transportation, enforcing and prosecuting illegal dumping, city’s youth athletic programs, city swimming pools and programs, and the quality of animal control.

For street and building maintenance, 44 percent of residents said they were dissatisfied, 32 percent said they were neutral and 23 percent said they were satisfied. The next highest category of dissatisfaction with city services was the stormwater runoff system, which garnered a 30 percent dissatisfaction rate.

Compared to other cities nationwide, Kansas City ranks as one of the lowest in the overall satisfaction with maintenance of streets, buildings and facilities. Kansas City recorded a 23 percent satisfaction rate, Minneapolis recorded a 50 percent satisfaction rate, St. Louis had 20 percent and Des Moines had 45 percent. Oklahoma City didn’t fare much better than Kansas City, recording a 25 percent satisfaction rate. The average for major cities across the U.S. is a 37 percent satisfaction rate with maintenance.

This year, the city added a new category, asking residents to rate categories and services most important to them. Sixty-six percent said the maintenance of streets, buildings and facilities is the most important, followed by 29 percent in the quality of police, fire and ambulance services, and 26 percent in the quality of the city’s stormwater runoff system.

City Council member Cindy Circo said the survey results will play a role in creating the budget and policies as well as knowing where to set priorities.

“We’re paying particular attention to the correlation between resident dissatisfaction and importance,” Bender said. “If an element is very important to residents as a whole and they are dissatisfied with it, we’ve recognized that this area is a priority for improvement.”

To view the full report, visit www.kcmo.org/performance.