Survey Shows Citizens Happy To Live In York

Survey Shows Citizens Happy To Live In York

By Amber Lester Kennedy Saturday, February 19, 2011

If York County were to receive a report card from its citizens, it would get mostly A’s and maybe one B.

The Board of Supervisors learned Tuesday that 99 percent of the county’s citizens gave a positive rating to the Overall Quality of Life. Mark Duda, executive director of Harrisonburg-based Responsive Management, was on hand at the board’s meeting to reveal the results of the county’s most recent Public Opinion Survey.

The survey was the county’s fourth since 1998; the last public opinion survey was conducted in 2005. Responsive Management contacted 544 citizens by phone, both through landlines and cell phones, to ask them standardized questions about life in the county. The company created a 600-page report, available for download here.

Duda, who has conducted similar surveys around the world, said the survey results were “incredible,” and the county ranked much better than many other localities he has polled. In a press release, County Administrator James McReynolds said he was pleased with the results, and noted that all of the results showed consistency with or improvement over previous survey results. “All the information gathered in this survey will be thoroughly evaluated by myself and staff to determine how to maintain or improve our service to our citizens in the future,” he said.

Combining answers that ranked the county positively, the results showed that 98 percent of citizens believe the county is a safe place to live. Ninety-one percent of residents expect to be in York County in five years; most who didn’t plan to live there were military employees. Another 86 percent of residents believe the county is staying the same or getting better, and the responsiveness, courtesy and knowledge of employees were rated positively by 94 percent of citizens.

Most of the negative responses were in reaction to the county’s reduced funding for recycling, which was restored earlier this year. In 2005, 96 percent of residents were happy with recycling pick-up, but in 2010, only 85 percent of citizens gave the program a positive rating. McReynolds hopes the return to weekly pick-ups this January will turn those negative opinions around, he said.

Comments

-2 #6 Guest 2011-02-21 20:52

Actually, it was 544 people polled and the report was 646 pages. Of course we do not know how many people were actually called and didn't answer of simply hung up. Still, 544 persons is a strange number to use in a county with 65000 people. It looks as if York only reported the people who spoke positively. For all we known, Responsive Management actually talked to 1000 or 1500, but only got good responses from 544? This is a company who's continued success depends on it returning numbers that make its employer look good. How much repeat business would they receive if they came up with low numbers?

Lets look at the 646 page report. Just how much BS can you pack into a report after talking to only 544 people? How many pages was War and Peace? They know no one is going to read all that crap. I suspect that if you read the reports from other municipalities, they will read the same except for the name.

This company has sold the county a bill of goods that cost the taxpayer and achieved nothing. Mark Duda is laughing all the way to the bank.

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0 #5 Guest 2011-02-21 14:10

646 yeas is only about 1% There's an old saying that statistics don't lie but statisticians do. York is a very nice town but lets's be a litle more realistic about it and be a little more truthull too. A heck of a lot more people should have been asked their opinion.Quoting believeable:

It is hard to believe that 646 people can be surveyed to get an accurate picture of over 64,000. However, most pollsters only select about 1200 people to get an accurate view of the entire United States. Businessmen and politicians bet millions and even their careers on such polls. It is a part of the modern world. The paper might want to do an article on it since many people are unaware of this.

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+2 #4 Guest 2011-02-21 08:56

It is hard to believe that 646 people can be surveyed to get an accurate picture of over 64,000. However, most pollsters only select about 1200 people to get an accurate view of the entire United States. Businessmen and politicians bet millions and even their careers on such polls. It is a part of the modern world. The paper might want to do an article on it since many people are unaware of this.

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+3 #3 Guest 2011-02-20 17:31

Confused, you might want to take a look at the math behind the process of setting up surveys. Sample size can be a tricky thing to understand, but given a population of 65000, a survey of 544 persons gives you results with 95% confidence rate with a margin of error slightly less than 4%.

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-1 #2 Guest 2011-02-19 09:42

Let me see if I understand this. This company talked to 544 citizens in a county that has 65000 citizens and then announced that 99% of our residents are happy with the county. Am I the only person that sees a problem with the math? I understand that the study cost taxpayers $17000.00. That bill should be sent to the 544 happy citizens at $31.25 each.

The actual report is 646 pages. There is more pages than people that were interviewed. I wonder if any of our Supervisors actually questioned the accuracy of this report. UNBELIEVABLE!

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+1 #1 Guest 2011-02-19 09:22

Congratulations York County !!!!!

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