Are you happy to call Coquitlam your home?
It appears most residents are very pleased with amenities and services the city offers year-round, according to its annual satisfaction survey which saw an average 94 per cent score from its key findings.
Broken down, upwards of 500 respondents to the Ipsos survey — conducted between May 25 and June 11, and released to the public today (Sept. 22) — ranked the following as "highly satisfied" in terms of stability and consistency:
- 97 per cent = Good quality of life
- 96 per cent = Satisfied with the services provided by the city
- 89 per cent = Good value for their tax dollars
"The data was then weighted to ensure a representative distribution between ages, genders and neighbourhoods that reflects the actual population of the community according to 2016 Census data," explains Graham Stuart, Coquitlam corporate planning manager, in a news release.
He notes the participants were selected at random and had to be over the age of 18.
On the subject of COVID-19 impacts, Ipsos' findings showed the pandemic had little effect on the public's "overall positive perceptions" of the city.
However, 59 per cent of respondents said it affected their mental health more than anything else.
Other key findings in the 2021 Coquitlam satisfaction survey are as follows:
- Satisfaction with Services
- Satisfaction with individual city services has stayed consistently high with many of them showing a satisfaction rate above 90 per cent. Similarly, the city’s overall customer service increased to 91 per cent, reflecting Coquitlam’s deliberate commitment to safely maintaining services and quality customer service throughout the pandemic.
- High Quality of Life
- Quality of life in Coquitlam continues to have a positive momentum with 35 per cent saying their quality of life has improved over the past five years with reasons including improved recreational facilities and parks, and improved transportation and roads.
- Shifting Priorities
- The public issue agenda appears to be shifting with social issues (e.g. affordable housing, affordable child care, homelessness, seniors issues, racism) being the most important top-of-mind community issue (23 per cent) after being the number two issue in 2019.
- Taxes over Service Cuts
- Citizens continue to prefer tax increases (54 per cent) over service cuts (33 per cent), though this preference is softening compared to previous years.
Coquitlam has conducted satisfaction surveys each year since 2003 — the 2020 edition was cancelled due to COVID-19.
To view details of the survey results, you're encouraged to visit the city's website.
