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Citizen satisfaction survey results announced
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors got some good news on Tuesday: Prince William residents have given their county high marks again this year. Even better, the local government is bouncing back after last year's bad poll numbers from Latinos.On Tuesday, Thomas Guterbock from the University of Virginia presented supervisors with the results of the 2009 Citizen Satisfaction Survey. Callers polled 1,746 residents in May and June and determined that overall satisfaction with county services is 90.6 percent.
Even better for supervisors, residents gave the county a 7.30 out of 10 when asked about the quality of life in the county. That's the best rating in the last four years.
The “quality-of-life” rating took a hit last year, in part because Latinos gave the county comparatively terrible marks in the wake of the board's crackdown on illegal immigration.
The “dramatic drop” in Latinos' satisfaction with the county last year has now rebounded.
“It's very nice to see that hispanics are back on a par with other groups,” Guterbock said.
Even the economic downturn has had its benefits. Since the housing market collapse and construction slowdown, residents' satisfaction with growth in Prince William has now skyrocketed, from 56.1 percent last year to 70.5 percent this year.
The ability to travel around the county is getting better as well, according to residents. Battlefield-area residents upped their ease-of-travel opinions from 49.2 last year to 54.9 this year. Broad Run-area commuters went from 54.8 percent to 64.8 percent.
“Even ease of travel in Northern Virginia, people are happier about,” Guterbock said.
But not everything is on the rise. Residents gave the county a thumbs-down when it came to “efforts to attract new jobs.”
That number hit a high of 82.4 percent in 2005 but has now dropped to 73.2 percent and while that's still high, it is the lowest its been since 2004.
Guterbock said residents' feelings about that question could be explained as “The economy is bad, we need new jobs; do something!”
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