Residents feel they are not getting their money’s worth from local government, survey shows
When it comes to services and facilities offered by their local governments, 36 percent of respondents to a survey by Princeton, N.J.-based Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) said they do not feel like they’re getting their money’s worth. Thirty-five percent of respondents said they do not trust their local government to do what is right.
The Ouch Point survey asked participants “What frustrates you most about your local government?” In other results, 27 percent described the quality of life in their city as either fair or poor, 21 percent think local government is headed in the wrong direction, and 18 percent would not recommend their town to others as a good place to live. “Our findings speak to a clear challenge facing local governments in terms of their ability to attract new businesses and residents to their municipality,” ORC Senior Vice President Rebecca Elmore-Yalch said in a statement. “A growing body of research suggests that quality of life is becoming an increasingly important consideration in business location decisions.”
Public transportation received the largest percentage of “poor/fair” ratings for local government services, 47 percent. That rating comes at time when gas prices and the recession, along with environmental concerns, have led to an increase in consumer demand for alternative transportation, Elmore-Yalch said. “At the same time, many transit systems are faced with significant budget shortfalls, forcing them to cut services,” she said.
View Ouch Point survey results.