Residents of San Marcos are pleased with the overall quality of service they receive from the City, and City employees are setting the standard for customer service among municipalities in the United States.
Those are some of the results of a community survey conducted by the City and ETC Institute, a leading government market research company.
Chris Tatham, Vice President of ETC presented the findings of the survey at the July 21 City Council meeting. Tatham says while the overall results of the survey were slightly lower than in 2013 San Marcos residents generally have a positive perception of the City.
“The survey was done right in the middle of the flood, and it did have a negative impact on the survey,” Tatham said. “Citizens who took the survey after the flood generally rated the City lower, but overall the results were good.”
The aim of the survey, which is conducted every two years, is to objectively assess the level of satisfaction with services, to help set priorities for the community, and to compare San Marcos’ performance with other cities in the region and across the nation. 409 residents were surveyed by mail and phone in May and June. The results have a 95% confidence level with a margin of error of +/- 4.8%.
Some of the key findings:
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Overall satisfaction with customer service in San Marcos exceeded regional and national satisfaction levels.
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The majority of residents feel safe or very safe in their neighborhoods, downtown, in shopping areas, at night in their neighborhoods, and in City parks.
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Areas that generally improved over 2013 results were City parks and recreation, enforcement of City codes and ordinances and City communication with the public.
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Library, fire and trash and recycling services won the top three ratings in quality, while stormwater runoff/flood prevention, enforcement of codes and ordinances and streets and sidewalks showed opportunities for improvement.
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Compared to other cities, San Marcos exceeded the perceptions on the overall quality of service, but was lower in quality of life, appearance, value for tax dollars and fees, and planning for growth.
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The City of San Marcos exceeded regional and national ratings for the library, city parks and recreation, customer service, and communication with the public.
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Satisfaction ratings below regional and national rankings included fire services, EMS, police services, stormwater/ flood prevention, code enforcement and streets and sidewalks and trash and recycling collection.
“These survey results assist us in evaluating our performance, but they also assist us in prioritizing projects and programs in the City budget,” said City Manager Jared Miller. “While the City already has a number of plans, projects and investments in place in areas like streets and sidewalks, stormwater runoff, flood control and code enforcement, this survey will assist us as we prioritize our needs and prepare the upcoming budget and future city budgets.”
Detailed survey material is online at www.sanmarcostx.gov/communitysurvey, including the presentation to City Council, the final report, and appendices with detail maps, and several crosstabs by demographics.
ETC Institute is one of the nation’s leading community-based market research firms, helping corporate, governmental, and non-profit organizations gather and interpret data from the general public and special interest groups about a wide range of issues. ETC has surveyed more than 1,750,000 persons for more than 500 cities since 2006.