Garbage collection No. 1 in Madison satisfaction survey

Kristin Czubkowski  —  1/14/2009 8:30 am

Madison residents rated the city's garbage collection the best of 15 basic city services, according to results from a survey released Tuesday.

The survey is the city's first-ever resident satisfaction survey, asking survey respondents to rate not only the quality and importance of city services, but their overall quality of life in Madison.

More than 74 percent of respondents said they were "very satisfied" with garbage collection, but only five services -- bus service, street condition, land use and planning, the City Web site and lake quality -- received satisfaction ratings of less than 50 percent. Lake quality, with a 24 percent satisfaction rating, clocked in at the lowest by far.

Not surprisingly, police and fire were rated the most important services, with about 96 percent calling them "very" or "extremely" important. Only one service -- the City Web site -- had a rating of less than 50 percent by the same measure, however.

While respondents were more nitpicky about individual services, overall quality of services and quality of life in the city were rated highly, with 87 and 89 percent rating them "good," "very good," or "excellent."

The survey was administered by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center to 1,000 residents in October and November 2008, with 429 surveys returned. The study needed only 300 surveys to be statistically significant, prompting accolades from the mayor for its high rate of return.

"An extraordinary response rate and high satisfaction with city services is encouraging," Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said in a news release. "Our citizens are not only highly engaged, but are also satisfied with city services on the whole."

The next steps for the survey results include distribution to city departments and further analysis. According to the release, the survey will be administered again in 2009 and 2010 to track progress on services.

"These results will be an important tool to continue improving the service we provide," Cieslewicz said in the release.

The 15 services studied were police, fire, Metro Transit, garbage collection, recycling collection, leaf and brush collection, snow plowing, street condition, park maintenance, traffic enforcement, drinking water quality, land use and planning, city Web site and lake quality.

Kristin Czubkowski  —  1/14/2009 8:30 am