SURVEY RESPONSE RATE AND TWO MAIN OBJECTIVES
During June of 2012, the Village of Pleasant Prairie mailed a municipal survey to 7,291 residential households requesting opinions and feedback from residents regarding their level of satisfaction with Village services. A total of 1,234 surveys were completed and returned for a response rate of approximately 17%.
One objective of the survey was to determine which services citizens were satisfied with and which services they perceived as needing improvement. Below, you will find the aggregate data that was returned.
A second objective of the survey was to gather demographic information from Village residents in order to better understand the community we serve. This data will better equip Village staff when budgeting for future needs and projects and when applying for various grant programs to support improvements or any potential disaster recovery efforts in the community.
DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
From a demographic perspective, 48.8% of survey respondents were male, while 49.2% were female. Ninety-five percent (95%) of survey respondents own their dwellings, and 84% of those were single-family homes. Ninety-one percent (91%) of respondents were registered to vote in the Village, and 81% voted in the 2010 Gubernatorial election. Only 9% of respondents are employed in the Village, while 26.3% work in Illinois, and 34.3% are not currently working.
COMMUNICATIONS AND UTILITIES
In looking at modern communications and utilities, 92% of respondents have cell phones, 80% have a landline, and 86% have Internet access. Eighty-three percent (83%) of respondents are served by municipal sewer, while 72% are served by municipal water. Only 36% of respondents live in areas with curb and gutter, instead of ditches, mainly indicating homes built after 1990 (when curb and gutter became a required improvement in new subdivisions).
SATISFACTION WITH SERVICES
Responses related to the quality of municipal services have provided valuable information concerning which services residents are satisfied with and which services the Village needs to improve. Satisfaction with Public Works services was fairly high. Residents responded with 96% satisfaction (either good or excellent) for garbage collection, 95% satisfaction with recycling collection, and 87% satisfaction with snow removal services. Respondents had an 85% satisfaction rate (either good or excellent) with Police services, 77% with Fire Department services, and 70% with Rescue services, while a larger percentage of respondents were not as familiar with these public safety services as they were with garbage and recycling collection and snow removal.
AREAS NEEDING IMPROVEMENT
Two specific areas of concern identified as needing improvement are road maintenance and code enforcement. Only 53% of respondents rated Street Repair quality as good to excellent, while 44% rated the quality as fair to poor. Code Enforcement also received low marks with only 41% of respondents giving a rating of good to excellent and 30% rating the service as fair to poor. These are two service areas that will require improvement. Village staff will prepare plans to improve the level of service that we provide to citizens in these areas and will then take steps to implement those plans.
SURVEY WILL SERVE AS A BENCHMARK
The recap of survey results serves, not as an end to a project, but as both a benchmark and a planning resource for our efforts. The Village will consult survey results when building future budgets and project plans related to providing municipal services for residents and when providing input to other governments or entities that provide services in the Village when consulted.
For survey results, please select "View PDF" below.
View PDF