City Services Satisfaction Survey 2011 City Services Satisfaction Survey | Page 27

Ratings and Perceptions of Specific Services and Facilities
City Services Overall. City services in Arlington generally receive high overall ratings,
with about two-thirds of city services rated receiving a top-two-box rating (“good” or
“excellent”) of 80% or higher. Fire services, ambulance/emergency medical services,
parks and recreation facilities, and libraries are rated very high, with top-two-box ratings
above 90%. Compared to the other high-performing services, code enforcement,
Handitran, health inspection, and community planning and development appear to have
some room for improvement, with overall ratings under 70%.
Fire Department. About a quarter of citizens report that they had contact with the fire
department over the past 12 months. Virtually all of the users rate the fire department
as “excellent” or “good” on quality of service and on timeliness of service. Consistent
with the past years, rating of community education services by the fire department
(85%) is comparatively lower than ratings of fire services, but still viewed positively
among citizens.
Ambulance/Emergency Medical Services. Among users in the past 12 months,
ambulance and emergency medical services are rated very high on quality of service
and timeliness of service.
Police Department. About two in five residents report that they have had contact with
the Arlington police department over the past 12 months. Among those users, the
police department is rated moderately high in terms of quality and timeliness of
services, with indication of room for improvements.
Parks/Recreation Facilities. Use of Arlington city parks and recreation facilities
appears to be moderately high. About two-thirds of citizens (66%) report having used a
city park or facility over the past 12 months. Residents in Arlington perceive the overall
quality of parks and recreation facilities very positively, with top-two-box ratings of all
attributes at 80% or higher. Rating of the range of activities has increased significantly
from 80% in 2009 to 88% in 2010.
Decision Analyst, Inc.
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