PRESS RELEASE
2018 Aspen Citizen Survey Results Online
Contact: Karen Harrington, Director of Quality, 970-429-2856 or karen.harrington@cityofaspen.com
Aspen, Colorado – January 25, 2019 – A random selection of Aspen voters gave the City of Aspen generally high marks in the 2018 City of Aspen Citizen Survey. Aspen voters say they continue to enjoy a high quality of life and close to 100% said they feel safe in the City. Ninety-three percent of those surveyed ranked their overall quality of life in Aspen as excellent (53%) or good (40%), which in aggregate was on par with 2017 results (62% excellent and 33% good).
“Each year since 1997 the City of Aspen has asked its citizens how things are going with a resident survey,” said Karen Harrington, Director of Quality. “The Aspen Citizen Survey serves as a consumer report card for Aspen by providing registered voters the opportunity to rate their satisfaction with the quality of life, local facilities and services, as well as satisfaction with local government.”
The survey was mailed to a random sampling of 1,750 registered voters. With 303 residents responding and an error rate of plus or minus 6 percent. Notably, there were many questions where over half of the respondents indicated the question was not applicable or they didn’t have enough information, raising the margin of error.
Seventy-six percent of respondents reported they were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the services provided by the City. This represents a drop since last year.
Overall, voters rated twenty-two different services of the City of Aspen government. Police, water services, Utility Billing, Finance, Red Brick Recreation Center, and snow removal received high marks from Aspen voters. Down from last year were City Manager’s Office, Asset Department, new housing development, communication, and Engineering. Interestingly, National Research Center, Inc, the company that conducts the survey for the City, reported that drops in positive scores for recreation centers and communication with residents are a national trend throughout their survey work.
“The City of Aspen takes its annual citizen survey seriously and each year we address the feedback we receive in an effort to improve as an organization and provide the best services we can offer to the community,” said Assistant City Manager, Sara Ott.
Voters continue to rank the health of the Roaring Fork River as a top priority for City government action as well as ensuring the availability of adequate affordable workforce housing.
For a full copy of the survey, visit https://www.cityofaspen.com/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/500
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