Johnson County is a premiere community: a great place to live, work, and raise a family. That's the bottom-line response from a recent citizen survey conducted by the Johnson County Government. In fact, Johnson County surpassed the national average and outranked several other urban cities and counties across the United States on factors that include the overall quality of life in the community, the quality of government services, and the value for local tax dollars.
That survey, conducted this fall by the ETC Institute, was a part of a strategic planning process undertaken by the Johnson County Board of Commissioners, and was intended to provide a benchmark in assessing citizens' levels of satisfaction with Johnson County Government services and programs. The survey measured community needs, quality of service, availability, affordability, accessibility, expertise, timeliness, and responsiveness, among other factors.
The survey results were shared with the Board of County Commissioners during an afternoon Committee of the Whole session on Thursday, December 13. Chris Tatham, vice president of the ETC Institute, presented the findings. According to the survey, a majority of the residents were willing to consider extending the County's 1/4 cent sales tax for public safety and investments, and other items (61%). In regards of an increase in property taxes to ensure county services and capital improvements are not cut or delayed, a third (33%) indicated their support of paying up to an additional $2 per month, 19 percent of paying up to an additional $4 per month, and 23% preferred no increase in property taxes.
The survey found that citizens ranked the following county services and programs as being the "top five" highest in terms of overall satisfaction:
Library, at 92 percent
Parks & Recreation, at 85 percent
Ambulance/Emergency Medical Services, at 71 percent
County Election System, at 70 percent
Motor Vehicle Registration Systems, at 64 percent
Residents indicated the top five areas for improvement included:
Emergency Preparedness for Disasters and Terrorism
Public Transit/bus service
County efforts to protect the environment
Effectiveness of County communication with the public
Maintenance of roads in rural areas of County
The following materials are available for public review:
An Executive Summary of the survey results, prepared
by ETC Institute
A copy of Mr. Tatham's PowerPoint presentation to the Board of County Commissioners
For more information about the citizen survey, please contact the Office of the Board of County Commissioners at (913) 715-0430.
For a link to the 2005 citizen survey, click here.