Citizens give county high marks for quality of life, customer service in annual survey

SARASOTA COUNTY – Ninety-seven percent of residents rate the overall quality of life in Sarasota County as “excellent” or “good,” and 94 percent say they are satisfied with most of the services provided by Sarasota County Government.

Those are some of the top findings of the 2017 Citizen Opinion Survey, conducted for Sarasota County by Dr. Susan MacManus through the Florida Institute of Government at the University of South Florida. The county has surveyed citizens annually for 26 years as part of its community outreach to get input from a broad, representative group of residents about their collective priorities for the county.

“The Citizen Opinion Survey contains a wealth of information that helps us support the county commission’s priorities, and it gives us important insights into how we can better serve citizens,” said County Administrator Tom Harmer.

The results once again revealed high marks from citizens who contacted the county in person, by phone, by email or online: 99 percent said they were treated with respect (up 5 percent from 2016), 95 percent were given correct information and 93 percent received help in a timely manner. All three results are the highest in the survey’s history.

The survey also includes findings on citizens’ top service priorities for the county, their feelings about the economy and their trust in Sarasota County Government leaders, which remains at a higher level than for federal and state leaders.

“The Citizen Opinion Survey gives elected officials better insight into the priorities and concerns of our citizens,” said Commission Chairman Paul Caragiulo. “The historical data and trends help us take a big-picture view of our community and how we are serving them.”

The 2017 opinion poll included a telephone survey of a random sample of 800 Sarasota County residents 18 or older. The margin of error is +/-3.5 percent.

An executive summary of the survey and the full results are now available online at www.scgov.net.