• Click HERE to view the 2004 Citizen Survey Results PowerPoint presentation that was delivered to the Board of Supervisors
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• Click HERE to view the 2004 Citizen Survey Results Summary
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• Click HERE to view the 2004 Citizen Survey Results Final Report
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Albemarle County officials are releasing the results of a citizen survey conducted this summer by the University of Virginia's Center for Survey Research, which indicate a continued high level of satisfaction with the quality of life in Albemarle County among other findings.  The results were presented to the Board of Supervisors at today's meeting by Tom Guterbock, the Director of the Center for Survey Research.

Citizens were asked to rate the quality of life in Albemarle County on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best possible place to live and 1 being the worst.  The mean rating was 7.96, not a statistically significant difference from surveys in 1994 and 2002, demonstrating that a high level of satisfaction has remained fairly constant over the past ten years.

On the whole, county citizens displayed a positive attitude towards local government, with 8 in 10 citizens saying they were satisfied with the value they receive for their tax dollar and 83.5% reporting themselves satisfied with their experiences in contacting and dealing with the County.

The survey also measure citizens' opinions on progress towards the County's strategic planning goals.  Citizens were most impressed with efforts in making Albemarle a safe and healthy community, creating lifelong learning opportunities, and providing effective, responsive and courteous customer service.  Residents were least satisfied with the County's efforts to promote the development of affordable housing, to protect and preserve the rural areas, and to provide needed infrastructure. 

Citizens reported 90.6% overall satisfaction with County programs and services, which is not significantly different from the 2002 survey and which continues to reflect major improvement from the 1994 results when only 84.3% were satisfied.  Satisfaction was highest for fire protection, library services, emergency rescue, safety in business areas and police protection and lowest for efforts to manage growth and preserve open space.

The survey indicated continued support for the county's major growth management policies, with approximately 70% of respondents favoring concentrating development in the urban areas to protect the rural areas, but that percentage showed a significant decline in support from the 2002 survey where almost 80% of respondents said they favored concentrated growth.  Citizens were asked to rate a variety of services in terms of attracting people to live in urban areas, with the following services receiving the most positive responses in the order in which they are listed:  public utilities; faster emergency response times; variety of housing types; easy access to public transportation; pedestrian-friendly commercial areas; sidewalks; natural area trails or greenways; and leaf pick up and snow removal.

"We appreciate the time and candid opinions of our citizens in responding to this survey," said County Executive Bob Tucker in discussing the results.  "While we are very pleased with the overall ratings on quality of life and customer service, we also recognize the very real concerns citizens have about the impacts of growth in our community. We have been and will continue to work with citizens to address growth challenges and to focus on our strategic plan priorities dealing with urbanization to insure that we protect the community character that makes Albemarle County such a special place."