Skip to content

2022 Citizen Survey results: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Unsplash
Unsplash

The results of the Town of Oakville’s 2022 Citizen Survey are in.

A town press release leads with an optimistic (and factual) outlook on the overall satisfaction of the Town:

  1. 93% of Oakville residents express overall satisfaction with town programs and services
  2. 85% of Oakville residents express overall satisfaction with their customer service experience
  3. 80% feel positive about their local government

All of that is true, and Oakville is thriving in many ways. But that doesn't paint the whole picture.

While the town's prepared press release highlights many of the results, Oakville News has conducted its own extended, independent analysis of the survey results, citing the 95-page Citizen Satisfaction Survey Quantitative Report, available to read for free on Oakville's website and to download here.

There are positive-to-mixed results for how people feel about living in Oakville. There are sky-high and radically above average scores in some areas (like taxation, public green spaces and overall satisfaction of services) and mediocre results or a desire for more attention in others (like affordable housing, public transit and climate change concerns.)

Initially scheduled for 2021, the biannual survey of Oakville residents was delayed to earlier this year due to the unpredictable state of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021.

Forum Research independently conducted the survey between Jan. 24 and Feb. 6, 2022, with over 1,800 responses.

Telephone interviews were conducted with 811 random adult residents. There were 100 calls in each ward of the town, using a mix of landlines and cell phone numbers. 990 online survey responses were recorded.

The survey is a comprehensive look at satisfaction among Oakville residents, focusing on five key areas:

  • Satisfaction with the government of the Town of Oakville, overall livability of the town, top-of-mind issues in need of attention
  • Perceptions of town attributes and services, including satisfaction and drivers of satisfaction
  • Prioritization of the issues and initiatives the town should address in the future
  • Perceptions of value for tax dollars and views towards property tax, user fees, and overall budget decisions
  • Preferred communication needs and interaction with the town

So what do residents say are Oakville's biggest successes? What are the town's most prominent areas for improvement? What are the most divisive topics?

Here are the good, the bad, and the ugly of Oakville's 2022 Citizen Survey.

The Good

The town accurately self-identifies three specific areas (backed by data in the Citizen Satisfaction Survey Quantitative Report) as their greatest successes from this year's survey results:

  1. High marks for service delivery: Results show that 8 out of 12 service areas (or two-thirds) received satisfaction ratings above 80%. The town’s top-rated services include parks and green spaces (93%), harbours and waterfront areas (90%), public libraries (88%), recreation fields and facilities (87%), and emergency services (85%).
  2. Value for money: 85% of residents said they receive good value for their tax dollars.
  3. Satisfaction with town attributes: Residents were asked to rate ten attributes of the Town of Oakville, giving us an overall satisfaction rating of 87%. The highest levels of satisfaction were feelings of safety (95%), overall appearance of the community (92%), and feeling of belonging (87%).

For obvious reasons, COVID-19 has dominated conversations for the last two years. Despite its challenges, most people in Oakville are satisfied with how the town has handled the pandemic.

The report says even though COVID-19 "has been one of the top-of-mind issues for residents, nearly 8 in 10 (78%) expressed that they were satisfied with how the Town adapted its services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic." According to page 30:

  • 78% of respondents are very or somewhat satisfied
  • 18% of respondents are very or somewhat dissatisfied
  • 4% don't know or prefer not to say

Are people satisfied with local government?

Broadly, yes. 80% of respondents say they are satisfied. The results (from page 15) state:

  • 25% of respondents are very satisfied
  • 55% of respondents are somewhat satisfied
  • 13% of respondents are somewhat dissatisfied
  • 7% of respondents are very dissatisfied

While extreme dissatisfaction is up 2%, extreme satisfaction is also up 2%, and overall satisfaction has remained steady over the last five years. This overall satisfaction is above the provincial average.

Of the residents who interacted with the town in the last 12 months, a vast majority (85%) stated they were satisfied with the service they received. (Page 60)

Effective taxation is also a big success for the town. More than 8 in 10 residents (also 85%) think they receive an overall good value for their tax dollars considering the programs and services provided by the Town. (Page 51)

Lastly, page 36 says that residents' overall satisfaction with the quality of services provided (93%) is higher than the benchmark average (82%).

The Bad

While a significant majority of the survey results are positive, there is one clear negative statistic on page 25 of the report. While 11% of respondents say life is better in Oakville today than three years ago, 33% (one-third of respondents) say life in Oakville has become worse. (52% say it has stayed the same.)

Before we get to the rest of "the bad," let's quickly look at "the okay."

According to the town, there are six "areas of focus" that residents listed as top priorities for future planning. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does highlight what the town identifies as the top concerns of its citizens.

The following is a quote from the town press release of what it identifies as the main priorities for future planning:

  • Climate change: Protecting and maintaining parks, trails and green spaces.
  • Economic growth: Attracting new companies to Oakville to create more local job opportunities.
  • Parks amenities and recreation programs: Offering park space for unstructured use.
  • Ease of travelling: Adding and widening roads and bridges and increasing the frequency of public transit.
  • Governing and managing the town: Ensuring open and accountable government decision-making.
  • Controlling the rate and type of growth: Protecting the character of existing neighbourhoods.

While all of these are popular topics from the results, the survey's key findings (on page 9 of the report) list only one of those six focus areas in the top three concerns of respondents.

"When asked what the most important issue facing the Town of Oakville is," reads the report, "the plurality said:"

  1. Affordable housing (19%)
  2. Urban sprawl/rapid development (16%)
  3. Covid-19 (14%).

Then, there are some areas where reports have worsened since the last survey in 2019:

  • Of the residents who interacted with the town in the last 12 months, the percentage of those satisfied with their service went down by 3% from 2019. (Page 60)
  • 62% say life in Oakville is better or the same as three years ago; that's below the 66% benchmark of all Ontario municipalities. (Page 26)
  • The number of respondents who say Oakville is the same as or worse than other areas in the GTA has grown: in 2019, this group of Oakville residents was only 2%. This year it's 8%. (Page 17)
  • Only 65% are satisfied with the opportunities for public involvement in town decision-making. That's down from 71% in 2019. (Page 34)

Then there's a weird result: while 87% of residents use green spaces and trails, very few participate in cultural programs. (Page 46)

When asked if respondents participated in a recreation or cultural program, whether virtual or in-person, offered by the Town of Oakville or a community organization, they said:

  • 12% frequently do
  • 17% occasionally do
  • 24% rarely do
  • 47% never use town recreation or culture programs

That's a disappointingly low number of people who regularly use these excellent programs being offered.

The Ugly

The good news is nowhere does the citizen survey suggest Oakville has grossly failed in town management. However, that doesn't mean there aren't some discrepancies in what the town is "highlighting" in the survey results and what the Citizen Satisfaction Survey Quantitative Report actually says.

For one, there is no mention of housing affordability on the survey results webpage, and a brief mention in the town's press release provides no metrics, despite housing affordability being identified as the number one issue facing the town. That result speaks to concerns about the availability of affordable housing and the overall cost of housing for both owners and renters.

The findings say that "compared to previous surveys, there has been a sharp increase in affordable housing" as an area of concern, jumping from 7% to 19%. It is our community's top reported problem.

Conversely, Oakville says that traffic/congestion is one of the six focus areas going forward. While this was the top issue in 2019, concern with traffic fell 7% overall -- the largest decrease of any topic as a top problem in the town.

Next, findings from the quantitative report's analysis found two primary areas of improvement for the town: the availability of online services and public transit. Neither of these is listed in the town's areas for improvement, although the report says they were responsible for bringing down resident satisfaction.

More than 70% of respondents are satisfied with all town services polled except for public transit. But only 61% are satisfied with public transit currently offered - the lowest score by far in any category. (Page 38)

Finally, the survey sample demographics show that the respondents were disproportionately white, home-owning and in the highest income bracket (according to pages 65-70.)

  • 73% of all respondents were white, and 7% chose "prefer not to say"
  • 31% made $150,000+ per year (more than double any other income bracket)
  • 80% of all respondents owned their home

These statistics are not separately available for the entirety of the town, so it cannot be compared to see if this is an accurate reflection of Oakville's total population.

Final Thoughts

While there are unquestionably areas for improvement in Oakville, the overall satisfaction scores of residents in town who responded to the survey are undoubtedly positive.

The next step is to focus on both the self-identified areas for growth AND those in the report's key findings.

Commenting on the results, Town CAO Jane Clohecy said, "I am extremely proud of town staff and their unwavering commitment to serve the community. Their efforts throughout the pandemic haven’t gone unnoticed as the survey results show, and I want to thank them for doing their part to protect our community."

"I also want to thank our residents for their valuable feedback that will help us make improvements to our programs and services and shape our future strategic priorities."

Full results from the 2022 survey can be read and downloaded on Oakville's website for free here, at the Citizen Satisfaction Survey Quantitative Report.

Multiple members of the Oakville News staff contributed to this story.


What's next?


Reader Feedback