According to a community study conducted by an independent research organization, overall residents are satisfied with life in Prince William County.
“Prince William County residents on the whole are very satisfied and very positive about the overall quality of in the community and feel it compares well to other local communities,” Rebecca Elmore-Yalch a representative of ORC International said .
The Board of County Supervisors heard a presentation from the research firm at their Nov. 2O board meeting.
The objective of the survey is to assess resident perceptions of the overall quality of life in Prince William County including satisfaction with county government, employees, public safety, value of tax dollars, and transportation.
“On the whole Prince William County does well in terms of overall quality of life; [in terms of national benchmarks] there are some opportunities for improvement relative to how it is perceived compared to other communities,” Elmore-Yalch said.
Overall 90 percent of residents surveyed agreed that the overall quality of county services meets or exceeds their expectations and ratings are comparable to if not slightly higher than national benchmarks.
For the question of “Efficient & Effective Government,” which was inserted into the survey at the request of the Board, the majority of residents agree that overall the county’s services are efficient and effective. This represents an increase from 88 percent in 2010 to 90 percent in percent in 2012.
For “Value for Tax Dollars,” the majority of county residents feel that they are getting value for their tax dollars and these ratings are comparable to slightly better than national benchmarks.
“In this day and age where you see people being anxious about their tax dollars, being anxious about getting value for services, you actually have been improving on this measure, she said.
Detailed analysis of these figures by ORC revealed that despite the economy, the majority of Prince William County residents want the county to keep both taxes (dollar amount) and the level of services the same.
“The real punch line to the whole survey is that we do not see an overwhelming demand on the part of our residents to do anything different with taxes or services,” Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank J. Principe said. “It’s a good way to frame the budget discussion that we are going to have.”
However, he cautioned that with the increasing population, the level of services cannot be offered without increasing taxes
“As the population increases in Prince William County and naturally as services cost more each year, you cannot keep the tax base the same and deliver the same set of services to a growing population,” he said.
County Executive Melissa Peacor added that the context of residents’ responses did not reveal what specific services they would keep or lose to maintain tax rates.
The report also revealed 92 percent of residents are increasingly satisfied with county employees, 93 percent feel safe in their neighborhoods and all public safety services were given high ratings from 90-98 percent.
Furthermore, while residents generally agree they can get around by car, they rate the adequacy of local bus service and the overall transportation and road system rate much lower.
Chairman At-Large Corey Stewart noted the increase from 64 percent in 2010 to 84 percent in 2012 to the question of “I can easily get around by car within PWC” to new county road projects that have been initiated over the last few years.
Sterwart voiced concern that the survey questions focused on government services and less toward lifestyle satisfaction in the county, such as the quality of retail outlets and restaurants in the county. He also speculated that county’s turn from stand alone developments to mixed use may have contribute to the overall satisfaction of residents.
“ this data will enable staff to develop specific strategies for targeted improvements,” Elmore-Yalch said.
ORC collected data from 1,727 residents, 73 percent by phone and 27 percent online. Prince William County has conducted annual resident surveys since 1993; these surveys became biennial in 2012.
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