Survey shows the council what residents think of various issues
Sarah MoffittThe Park Record
Posted: 09/13/2011 04:45:48 PM MDT
Residents appear to be extremely happy with their quality of life in Summit County, according to a recent survey.
Eighty-six percent of county residents polled rated their quality of life as above average. Forty-two percent of West Side residents rated their quality of life as excellent compared to 18 percent of East Side residents.
Conducted by Professor Richard Kranrich from the University of Utah, 773 households completed a survey ranking their quality of life, what they valued and what they thought of the Summit County government.
The Summit County Council was able to compare responses from the East and West sides and found the two distinct areas have more in common than expected.
Both areas rated the value of services they receive compared to the taxes they pay as above average and rated the county government as doing a good job. East and West side residents rated protecting agricultural businesses and adding more residential developments as moderately important and said that county-wide growth is causing a loss of things they value in the area.
“We are going to incorporate the responses of residents and how they rated top priority services into our new Strategic Plan,” said Summit County Manager Bob Jasper. “It also functions as a tool for the council as we decide on next year’s budget. What do people really value and where is it ok for us to cut back.”
The council said some of the responses were expected, such as 81 percent of people polled
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in the West Side rating outdoor recreation as extremely important to their quality of life.
“There are more similarities than differences when it comes to the two sides of the county,” said Kranrich. “But some responses really caught us by surprise.”
He said two that surprised him were that people in the West Side feel safer than those on the East and that West Side residents rated the quality of the air higher than East Side residents.
“Overall residents seem pretty happy with our county,” he said. “East Side residents are fairly ambivalent about growth management and planning initiatives but West Side residents want the council to manage growth. We need to increase government accessibility in the East Side and continue to provide outdoor recreational opportunities in the West Side.”
To view the full survey visit ww.summitcounty.org and click on Citizens Survey on the left.
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