How Satisfied? 400 San Marcos households will soon get to weigh in on city services

The city of San Marcos will conduct a community survey next week with the assistance of ETC Institute, a national research company, to gauge the level of satisfaction residents have with city services and learn their perceptions of the community.
More than 400 randomly selected households in San Marcos will be surveyed by mail or by telephone this month. Residents receiving the survey by mail are asked to return their questionnaire in the postage paid envelope.
Other households will be called by telephone and interviewed in English or Spanish by ETC Institute staff. The interview will last about 20 minutes.
“This survey gives the community an opportunity to rate the work that city government is doing and tell us about their priorities,” City Manager Jim Nuse said. “It will also give the City Council valuable feedback as they make decisions on the coming year’s budget.”
Participants will be asked to rate the quality of city services, the most important services, how safe they feel in San Marcos, perceptions of the city of San Marcos, and satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a variety of services provided by the city. They will also have an opportunity to rate their satisfaction with the city government’s level of transparency.
The survey also will ask about their expectations for service levels, issues facing the city in the next five years, how they feel about strategic initiatives and where the city should invest tax dollars. The survey asks for demographic information, with individual responses kept confidential, city officials said.
ETC Institute will compile the responses and prepare a final report, with a presentation to the City Council anticipated in March.
Responses to the survey will be compared to regional and national benchmarks to see how San Marcos services rate with other cities.
ETC Institute is a market research firm based in Olathe, Kan. Founded in 1982, the company has completed research projects for clients in 46 states and 300 cities and counties. The company specializes in market research and customer satisfaction surveys for local governments.
For more information, visit www.sanmarcostx.gov/communitysurvey or call 393-8100.