More than 90 per cent of residents in Jasper think life is 鈥済ood鈥� or 鈥渧ery good,鈥� according to the latest residential satisfaction survey released by the municipality.
Conducted every four years, the local survey asked residents to answer 40 questions ranging from the quality of municipal services to how they would like their municipal tax dollars spent.
The survey also asked more pointed questions about topics such as sidewalk seating and the town鈥檚 busking pilot project. Four hundred people completed the survey.
While the vast majority of residents thought life was good in Jasper, 14 per cent of respondents thought their quality of life had become worse over the past four years. Nineteen per cent of respondents thought things had improved.
According to the survey, housing was the number one priority residents would like the municipality to address followed by the town鈥檚 aging infrastructure and the town鈥檚 fiscal health.
Comments included concerns that property taxes and user fees were unsustainable and a small, but significant amount of people, said they would like to see Jasper implement user fees and taxes targeting visitors or obtain special status as a tourism community.
鈥�(Housing) has been a pressing priority since I was born in this community and it鈥檚 also the one we have the least control over,鈥� Coun. Gilbert Wall said during a council meeting on Dec. 6.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a community plan, we don鈥檛 have ultimate control over what we can do with that kind of development and it just speaks volumes to the need to take land use planning away from Parks Canada and make it our responsibility.鈥�
According to the survey, nearly 45 per cent of respondents thought they were getting 鈥渇air value鈥� for their municipal tax dollars, up from 41 per cent in 2012, while nearly 80 per cent of respondents rated the overall quality of services provided by the municipality as 鈥済ood鈥� or 鈥渧ery good,鈥� slightly up from four years ago.
According to the survey, residents were most satisfied with the town鈥檚 waste collection and least satisfied with the town鈥檚 parking enforcement.
According to Christine Nadon, communications manager for the municipality, a dissatisfaction rate between 12 and 18 per cent is relatively standard.
鈥淭here鈥檚 always people that are very satisfied or very dissatisfied,鈥� said Nadon.
The survey also found that the majority of residents wanted to maintain current service levels for the Jasper Municipal Library, the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives and Victim Services鈥揳ll of which have asked for municipal funding in 2017.
When it came to the services people would like to see expanded, 33 per cent of residents said they鈥檇 like to increase user fees or taxes to expand the skateboard park. Another 29 per cent of residents would like to see the town expand Wildflowers Childcare, while nearly a quarter of respondents want the town to expand snow removal services. Parking enforcement was the number one service residents wanted cut.
Paul Clarke
[email protected]
