Airdrie residents super-satisfied with life

An overwhelming majority of Airdrie residents who recently completed the 2016 Citizen Satisfaction Survey conducted by the City say they’re pretty much okay with living there.

In all, 96% of respondents indicated they were satisfied overall with the type of quality of life they enjoyed in Airdrie.

The satisfaction survey was taken over a week-long period in January of 2016 and polled the thoughts of 400 people in a random telephone survey.  The survey included more than 5,000 residents but many declined to participate and many more could not be contacted by telephone.

Compared with the survey taken in the same time frame last year, the rating is down by 1% - from 97% in 2015 to 96% this year.

However, the research firm which conducted the survey on behalf of the City of Airdrie told Airdrie media outlets that out of the 50 municipalities the company polls on a regular basis, Airdrie residents rank their city as the highest.  The fact that Airdrie continues to rank so high is quite amazing according to the research, as the city’s growth has been unprecedented in the last decade and for city operations to keep up with such rapid expansion is extraordinary.

Mayor Peter Brown was delighted at the results, stating that he’s very proud of his city and quite happy that almost everyone enjoys what Airdrie has to offer.  He acknowledged that there’s room for improvement.

In addition to the overall satisfaction rating, the survey asked residents other questions about various services offered by the City of Airdrie.  Those included questions regarding city amenities, safety issues and what respondents felt were key, top-of-mind issues.  The questions were also meant to gauge how well citizens felt the city was managed and whether property taxes were in line with value of services provided by the municipality.

Results show that 26% of citizens polled said the priority in Airdrie should be health care.  This is significantly higher than the responses from 2015, which indicated that 17% of residents felt that health care should be front and centre.

Second to health care was municipal infrastructure, such as roads, construction and the railway which passes through the west side of Airdrie.   This was the number one issue for 25% of those respondents, which is the same as indicated in 2015.  This year, 11% said managing rapid growth was a concern whereas in 2015, 19% felt rapid growth was a concern.

Areas where the level of satisfaction was found lacking were in recycling, enforcement, snow removal and transit.  That includes value for citizen’s tax dollars, which came in at 72% in 2015 and dropped to 66% in 2016.

Airdrie’s Mayor said he would like to dig deeper into the issues of transit services to discover why those who reported dissatisfaction with transit feel the way they do.

Areas which remain high in satisfaction but may perhaps be trending downward are in safety, both overall and after dark. Satisfaction of services at city-operated Genesis Place, a comprehensive recreational centre in the city’s South East, are also down from 88% to 82% of respondents.