March 8, 2022/ For immediate release
AIRDRIE, ALBERTA – After a decade of high satisfaction rates with City amenities and services, results of the recent Citizen Satisfaction Survey show a decline in the overall satisfaction of residents.
“Every level of government is under a high level of scrutiny right now and it's no different for us here at the municipal level. In recognition of that, I do want to thank our residents for their candid feedback through the Citizen Satisfaction Survey," said Mayor Peter Brown. “Our staff strive hard each day to deliver exceptional service for our residents and along with Administration, we will use the information we've received to make improvements and build on our strengths.”
According to the 2022 survey results, respondents felt quality of life in Airdrie dropped to 72 per cent from the 93 per cent rating in 2021. For those who felt quality of life had increased, reasons for the increase included, good road maintenance, a sense of community, the cleanliness of the city and good Council/City management. Respondents who indicated a decrease in quality of life, cited pandemic impacts, rapid growth/crowding, increased criminal activity, traffic congestion and lack of a hospital as their reasons for the decline.
Healthcare challenges and infrastructure/traffic concerns topped the list for respondents when asked about the most important issues facing the City of Airdrie. Healthcare services is also the top priority for residents, along with more recreational facilities.
In a breakdown of individual services, the satisfaction level of most services and facilities dropped from the previous year’s ratings. Recreation facilities including the City’s arenas and Genesis Place experienced the largest drop in satisfaction levels. (At the time of the survey these facilities were operating under the Provincial Restriction Exemption Program, which required proof of vaccination status or negative Covid-19 test result for entry.) Satisfaction with summer road maintenance and residential garbage collection dropped the least. Winter snow and ice control is the only service that did not experience a drop in satisfaction.
Consistent with the drop in other areas of the survey, results for questions about community safety also experienced a decrease. 90 per cent of Airdrie residents felt safe during the day (down from 98 per cent in 2021) and 72 per cent considered Airdrie a safe place to live overall (92 per cent in 2021).
“We’re appreciative of participants that took the time to share their thoughts again this year. Overall, we’ve seen a shift in satisfaction levels, and we want the community to know that we’ve heard that message,” said Ryan Johnson, Corporate Strategy Advisor. “Considering all the external factors that existed at the time the survey was conducted, it would be easy for us to say that the pandemic was solely driving these results, but each year we use this data as an opportunity to review areas of our business that could be improved upon, and this year will be no different.”
The survey was conducted by Y Station with a total of 1496 residents providing feedback through the representative population sampling and open public survey. Responses were collected from Airdrie citizens 18 years of age or older. To view the full survey results, visit www.airdrie.ca/citizensurvey
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Media contact:
Ryan Johnson
Corporate Strategy Advisor
City of Airdrie
403.948.8800