The City of Lawrence completed the most recent Community Satisfaction Survey in 2022. The survey has also occurred in 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019 and provides the opportunity for the City to assess satisfaction with the quality of city services and gather input on community priorities as related to the Strategic Plan. The survey is administered by ETC Institute, which is one of the nation’s leading firms in the field of local government research.
The 2022 survey was completed in May and mailed to a random sample of households. A total of 857 households completed the survey. The results for the random sample of 857 households have a 95% level of confidence with a precision of at least +/-3.3%. The city uses this data from residents to establish trends over time and to determine measurable and attainable goals for department performance and related Strategic Plan progress indicators. The survey asked about satisfaction with core city services as well as perceptions of safety, value, and quality.
In 2022, ETC Institute was also asked to conduct an over-sampling exercise for the City of Lawrence to ensure that the City had a statistically valid number of responses for key demographic groups. This involved over-sampling minority groups (residents of Lawrence who identify as Black or African American, American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino) to ensure the completion of a statistically valid number of surveys beyond the number expected (based on most recently available ACS/Census information provided by the City) given the group’s relative portion of the City’s population. This exercise will give the City the ability to run statistically significant cross-tabulations of key demographic groups.
The Trends. The 2022 survey is the fifth community satisfaction survey completed since 2007. Both short-term trends and long-term trends were analyzed. The short-term trends compared satisfaction trends from the 2019 survey results. There were 99 different services within 12 different categories that were analyzed. The City saw an increase in satisfaction in 47 of the 99 areas between 2015 and 2019. Eighteen (18) items had a significant decrease in satisfaction.
ETC Institute also analyzed the trends of satisfaction ratings from the 2011 and 2022 survey results. There were 79 different areas within 12 different categories that were assessed. The City of Lawrence saw an increase in satisfaction in 43 of the 79 areas between the 2011 and 2022 survey results.
What’s Next? Elected leaders and city staff will use this data to determine how to best use the city’s resources to address issues our residents consider areas of emphasis and need. Additionally, this information provides benchmarks and serves to help measure progress indicators in the City’s Strategic Plan.