Fairfax City residents think it’s a great place to live and rate its services highly, despite ongoing concerns over traffic and lack of affordable housing, according to new data from the City of Fairfax’s first community survey.
The results of the survey — which was conducted over the summer by the ETC Institute, a Kansas-based firm that provides market research for local governments — were presented to city council members during a work session on Oct. 7.
“We found that residents have a very positive perception of the City of Fairfax,” Jason Morado, vice president of community research at ETC, told council members. “Over 90 percent of respondents rated the City of Fairfax as an excellent or a good place to live, and to raise and educate children … When we compare results to other communities, that number is much, much higher than the regional and national average.”
More than 400 people responded to the survey. Its results are statistically significant and reflect the population of the city — by age, race, ethnicity, household income and gender, according to Morado.
Its findings could help officials “get an objective assessment of resident satisfaction with major city services and to determine what residents feel are the top priorities for the community,” he added.
Data shows that on the whole, satisfaction with city services is very high, with Fairfax City rating above the national average in 46 out of 47 areas that were compared, Morado said. Overall satisfaction with the quality of city services rated 37 percent above the U.S. average.
Residents showed the highest levels of satisfaction with fire and rescue, trash and recycling, and voter registration services. Congestion was the only notable point of frustration with city services: 35% of people reported feeling dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the overall flow of traffic and ease of getting around.
And while 43% of people said they were happy with the availability of quality housing, affordability is clearly an issue: 45% of respondents said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the availability of affordable quality housing.
“That’s a trend we’ve seen all over the country, especially over the past couple of years, so not really a surprise,” Morado said.
Based on the responses, ETC recommended that when city leaders set priorities, they focus on four key areas: Improving the overall traffic flow, quality of economic development, enforcement of city codes and ordinances, and quality of public education.
Bryan Foster, who’s served as acting city manager for Fairfax since February, said the survey results affirmed his own experience from leading city staff over the past eight months.
“Fairfax City is a great place to live,” Foster said in a press release announcing the results. “It’s validating to see our residents recognize the efforts of our professional staff to provide great customer service and high-quality amenities for the community.”
