2023 Citizen Satisfaction Survey

Thank you to those who participated in the 2023 Citizen Satisfaction Survey. Public feedback is critical in helping Council and Administration better understand the needs and opinions of residents. Information received through the survey assists Council with decision-making, long-term planning, and measures progress on advancing key Council priorities.

Over 500 residents responded to the 2023 survey, resulting in a statistically valid sample size, and the results were weighted to ensure a representative sample of the City of Fernie. The results of the survey will be used to help inform the 2024 Budget Process and will be used to identify areas for further review or improvement. Results will also be used to benchmark success in advancing the objectives and goals in Councils Strategic Plan.

Key findings of the Citizen Satisfaction Survey Report include:

Impressions, Quality of Life and Top Issues:
• The overall Impressions of the City of Fernie are largely positive, with more than seven in ten (72%) adult residents reporting a good impression.
• The overall quality of life in Fernie is generally high and stable. Almost nine in ten (86%) adult residents believe their quality of life is good, with six in ten (59%) feeling it has remained consistent over the past year.
• One in ten (11%) residents indicate they have experienced an increase in their quality of life, while one quarter (25%) indicate they have experienced a decline in their quality of life.
• High cost of living, inflation, and a lack of affordable housing are the most commonly cited reasons for quality of life declining. These are in line with Fernie residents’ top-of-mind issues, namely, housing and affordability.

Programs and Service Delivery:
• Overall satisfaction with the quality of the services and programs provided by the City of Fernie is strong, with a quarter (25%) of adult residents being highly satisfied.
• Satisfaction with parks, indoor and outdoor recreation is moderately strong. However, the satisfaction with building, development and community planning services and roads, sidewalks and pathways are lower, presenting key improvement opportunities.
• Two-thirds (65%) of adults perceive consistent quality in the City's services and programs over the past year.
• Almost half (47%) of adults believe the City should only apply an inflationary increase in taxes and maintain the current level of services and programs. Over one-fifth (22%) advocate for tax increases to enhance services, more than double those who favour decreasing taxes and reducing services (9%).

Communication, Engagement and Customer Service:
• Public engagement with the City of Fernie is moderately strong, with two-thirds (65%) of adults providing opinions to the City on issues of importance to them.
• Roughly half agree the City‘s public engagement opportunities are available (57%), accessible and inclusive (49%), and easy to use (47%). However, there is less acknowledgment of the City's performance in including public feedback in decision-making (43%) and providing follow-up communication about the impact of public input (30%).
• Nine in ten adult residents (89%) have been engaged with the City of Fernie over the past year, with the City’s website (82%) and its Facebook page (54%) being the most used channels.
• Seven in ten (70%) adult residents have contacted or interacted with City of Fernie staff in the past year and nearly two-thirds (64%) of them are satisfied with their most recent interaction. In-person interactions note higher satisfaction than those by telephone and email.
• One-third (34%) of adult residents have contacted or interacted with City council members in the past year, most often in a community engagement/information session or open house. Satisfaction with interactions with City council members is very strong (70%).

You can view the 2023 Citizen Satisfaction Results here and watch the survey result presentation to Council here.