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Transmittal - 8/14/2023 ERIN MENDENHALL Mayor DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES Aaron Bentley, Chief Information Officer P.O. BOX 145474 451 SOUTH STATE STREET, ROOM 306 SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84114-5474 WWW.SLCMAYOR.COM TEL 801-535-7704 CITY COUNCIL TRANSMITTAL ______________________________ Date Received: Lisa Shaffer, Chief Administrative Officer Date Sent to Council: TO: Salt Lake City Council DATE: August 14, 2023 Darin Mano, Chair FROM: Aaron Bentley Chief Information Officer Information Management Service SUBJECT: 2023 Resident Panel Survey Results STAFF CONTACTS: Hailey Leek, Senior Innovations Consultant, Hailey.Leek@slcgov.com Elizabeth Buehler, Director of Innovation and Project Management, Elizabeth.Buehler@slcgov.com DOCUMENT TYPE: 2023 Resident Panel Survey Results RECOMMENDATION: BUDGET IMPACT: BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION: In 2023, Salt Lake City Corporation in partnership with Y2 Analytics established an active panel of Salt Lake City residents to participate in frequent surveys on timely topics. The panel will help explore residents’ priorities regarding current city initiatives. DATA: See attachment Background At the end of February 2023, Y2 Analytics completed a resident panel survey, this survey is an evolution of our existing biannual survey as it creates a panel of willing Salt Lake City residents that represent our city demographics and spread across council districts to participate in 2 to 3 surveys per year on big city issues. The panel survey will not replace the biannual survey but is an additional resource to survey residents. 1,079 residents participated in this survey with 855 participants opting Lisa Shaffer (Aug 14, 2023 16:17 MDT)08/14/2023 08/14/2023 ERIN MENDENHALL Mayor DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES Aaron Bentley, Chief Information Officer P.O. BOX 145474 451 SOUTH STATE STREET, ROOM 306 SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84114-5474 WWW.SLCMAYOR.COM TEL 801-535-7704 in to participate in future Resident Panel surveys. The recent panel survey sought to gather perceptions about neighborhood quality and housing composition, explore residents’ priorities regarding current city initiatives, and understand resident perceptions of city environmental and sustainability measures. Residents were also able to weigh in on communication channels they most commonly receive information about the city and which modes they would prefer and evaluate the user experience of the city website by reason for visiting. In the future, the panel survey can become a vital tool for gaining insight into societal trends, concerns and help determine if the City is achieving our goal of delivering high quality services. Panel surveys are conducted more efficiently and seamlessly, enabling policymakers to track changes in residents' attitudes, behaviors, and needs over time. Decision-makers can identify emerging issues, evaluate the effectiveness of City and neighborhood initiatives, and make evidence-based adjustments to address evolving challenges, specifically regarding affordable housing, environmental concerns, and enhancing our communication with residents. Methodology Details For this survey, 8,000 Salt Lake City households were sampled from a list of resident contacts gathered from the Salt Lake City utilities database. From this sample, 1,079 current Salt Lake City residents responded to the survey (response rate 13.5%) and 855 of these residents opted-in to participate in future SLC Resident Panel surveys. Survey invitations were sent via email and interviews were completed online. The data were weighted to reflect the demographic composition of Salt Lake City at large according to current US Census American Community Survey population estimates, specifically regarding age, gender, ethnicity, home ownership, and city council district. Key Findings Panel participants are nearly representative of city residents as a whole; however, this panelist sample is more likely than average to be homeowners, longer tenured city residents, have higher household incomes, and higher levels education. Panelists are willing to participate in up to three surveys per year. Panelists – when compared to prior survey audiences – are less bullish on the current direction of the city and the overall quality of life here. On a scale from 0 – 100 for quality of life, this sample rates SLC as a 69, which is the lowest score for a SLC audience since Y2 has been measuring for the city. That could be due to actual erosion in perceptions since the pandemic or it could be demographic differences from this audience (most likely a bit of both). Other key metrics are similarly down, like right direction / wrong direction and tax dollar use. Top city service priorities are housing affordability, street maintenance, safety in outdoor spaces, and sustainability projects. Supporting local businesses is also given a high level of support, but when asked to rank programs, panelists rank housing, streets, safety, and sustainability higher. ERIN MENDENHALL Mayor DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES Aaron Bentley, Chief Information Officer P.O. BOX 145474 451 SOUTH STATE STREET, ROOM 306 SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84114-5474 WWW.SLCMAYOR.COM TEL 801-535-7704 Water and air quality are also top of mind for residents in thinking about environment and sustainability projects. An overwhelming majority of resident panelists, higher than 85%, consider projects involving air quality and water conservation to be high priorities. Residents are also sensitive to being blamed for water conservation issues – in the minds of many, without addressing agricultural and business waste, resident water conservation is likely not to yield significant savings. Website is heavily used – room for user experience improvement for finding support resources and paying bills. A vast majority of the panelists use the city website (69%). Along a series of measures – including ease of use, website organization, and likelihood to recommend to others – the top areas for website improvement are seeking information about support programs and paying bills.