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The National Citizen Survey 2004 Presentation to City Council September 27, 2004

What is the National Citizen Survey ¾ Standardized, weighted, mailed, random sample survey of citizens ¾ Sponsored by ICMA (International City Managers Association) ¾ Administered by National Research Centers, Inc. ¾ Largest database containing perceptions about government service, delivery and quality of life ¾ Used by 300 local governments

Why do a Citizen Survey ¾ Priority setting ¾ Project planning ¾ Customer satisfaction feedback ¾ Budgeting ¾ Benchmarking ¾ Measuring progress

How was it done ¾ 1,200 surveys mailed, 127 questions about life and service in Dover ¾ 124 standard questions, 3 policy questions ¾ Random selected addresses ¾ 388 completed responses, 35% response rate ¾ 95% confidence level (5% margin of error)

How is it Reported Report #1 - Reporting of Results ¾ “Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor” response scale (score) ¾ Reported in percentages ¾ Reported on 100-point scale: 100 = Excellent 67 = Good 37 = Fair 0 = Poor Report #2 – Normative Comparison ¾ Compares Dover scores to other jurisdictions that had the same questions ¾ Given rank and percentile ¾ Reported as above, below or similar to the norm ¾ Jurisdictions are not randomly selected

Results for the City of Dover

Survey Responses to: ¾ Quality of Life ¾ Community Characteristics ¾ Potential Problems ¾ Rates of Growth ¾ Perceptions of Safety ¾ Community Participation ¾ Public Trust ¾ Services Provided ¾ Contact with Employees ¾ Public Services

Overall Quality of Life in Dover Excellent 14% Poor 3% Good 56% Fair 27%

Quality of Life Ratings 100 Average Rating (0-poor, 100-excellent) 75 65 62 60 61 60 50 25 0 Dover as a place Neighborhod as Dover as a place Dover as a place Overall quality of to live a place to live to raise to retire? life in Dover? children? Excellent Good Fair Poor How do you rate Dover as a place to live? 19% 57% 22% 2% How do you rate your neighborhood as a place to live? 17% 51% 25% 6% How do you rate Dover as a place to raise children? 19% 52% 24% 5% How do you rate Dover as a place to retire? 25% 44% 22% 8% How do you rate overall quality of life in Dover? 14% 56% 27% 3%

Community Characteristics ¾ Highest rated characteristics were overall appearance, shopping opportunities, and sense of community. ¾ Three concerns rated by the highest proportion of respondents as a “major problem” were drugs, unsupervised youth & traffic congestion. ¾ The rate of population growth was viewed as “too fast” by 58% of respondents, while 5% thought it was “too slow”.

Characteristics of the Community: General & Opportunities Excellent Good Fair Poor Score Sense of Community 7% 47% 36% 10% 50 Openness and Acceptance of the community 4% 46% 34% 17% 45 towards people of diverse backgrounds Overall appearance of Dover 15% 54% 26% 5% 60 Opportunities to attend cultural activities 8% 36% 40% 16% 46 Shopping Opportunities 18% 44% 28% 10% 56 Recreational Opportunities 5% 31% 41% 23% 40 Job Opportunities 3% 17% 49% 31% 31

Potential Problems Percent of Respondents Rating as “Major Problem” Crime 18% Drugs 45% Too much growth 16% Noise 13% Rundown buildings, weed lots, etc 14% Taxes 8% Traffic Congestion 23% Unsupervised Youth 30% Homelessness 14% Weeds 12% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Rates of Growth 79% Jobs growth 3% Retail growth (stores, 23% too slow restaurants, etc.) 30% too fast 5% Population Growth 58% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Percent of Responses

Perceptions of Safety ¾ 55% of respondents felt “somewhat” or “very safe” from violent crimes. ¾ 66% of survey participants felt “somewhat” or “very safe” in their neighborhood after dark. ¾ 13% of households reported at least one member has been the victim of one or more violent crimes in the past year. ¾ 83% of those who had been a victim of violent crime, reported it to the police.

Safety from Various Problems Percent of Respondents Feeling “Very” or “Somewhat” Safe Violent Crimes 55% Property Crimes 47% Fire 72% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Safety in Various Areas Percent of Respondents Feeling “Very” or “Somewhat” Safe In Dover's parks after dark 23% In Dover's parks during the day 75% In Dover's downtown area after dark 30% In Dover's downtown area during the day 80% In your neighborhood after dark 66% In your neighborhood during the day 91% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Community Participation Percent of Respondents Engaging in Various Activity Once or More in the past year: - 54 % Purchased an item over the Internet - 31 % Used the Internet to conduct business with Dover - 72% Used the Internet for anything - 83% Read City of Dover newsletter - 47% Volunteered your time to some group/activity in Dover - 58% Recycled used paper, cans or bottles from your home - 49% Watched a meeting of local elected officials or other local public meeting on cable TV - 32% Attended a meeting of local elected officials or other local public meeting - 17% Ridden on local bus within Dover - 80% Visited a Dover Park - 39% Participated in a recreation program or activity - 47% Used Dover recreation centers - 72% Used Dover libraries or their services

Public Trust ¾ When asked to evaluate whether they felt they received good value for taxes they pay, residents gave average rating of 67 on a 100-point scale*. ¾ Overall quality of service provided was rated as 60 on a 100- point scale. ¾ Those who have been in contact with a City of Dover employee in the past year (64%) rated their overall impression as 66 on a 100-point scale. *Where 0 is the worst possible rating and 100 is the best possible rating.

Contact with City Employees Excellent Good Fair Poor Score Knowledge 32% 48% 15% 5% 69 Responsiveness 34% 43% 14% 10% 67 Courtesy 35% 41% 15% 8% 68 Overall impression 30% 45% 18% 7% 66

Quality of Utility Services Excellent Good Fair Poor Score Garbage collection 36% 49% 14% 2% 73 Yard waste pick-up 33% 44% 19% 4% 69 Storm drainage 7% 46% 34% 13% 49 Drinking water 5% 18% 28% 49% 26 Sewer services 10% 52% 30% 8% 55

Quality of Public Safety Services Excellent Good Fair Poor Score Police Services 24% 48% 23% 5% 64 Fire Services 42% 49% 8% 1% 77 Ambulance/Emergency Services 36% 47% 12% 4% 72 Traffic Enforcement 14% 44% 33% 10% 54

Overall Quality of Service Provided Excellent 14% Poor 3% Good 54% Fair 29%

Electric Department Services Policy Question #1 How satisfied are you with the services of the City of Dover Electric Department (outages, tree trimming, etc.)? Very satisfied 38% Somewhat satisfied 38% Neither satisfied nor unsatisfied 14% Somewhat satisfied 7% Very unsatisfied 3%

City Fees for Water, Sewer & Electric Policy Question #2 To what degree are you satisfied or unsatisfied with the City of Dover fees for . . Water Sewer Electric Very satisfied 16% 18% 17% Somewhat satisfied 28% 28% 33% Neither satisfied or unsatisfied 18% 21% 19% Somewhat unsatisfied 12% 10% 17% Very unsatisfied 12% 4% 10% Don’t Know 15% 18% 4%

Lack of Indoor Recreational Space Policy Question #3 To what degree do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “There seems to be a lack of indoor recreational space for sports in our community” % of Respondents Strongly agree 39% Somewhat agree 21% Neither agree or disagree 13% Somewhat disagree 4% Strongly disagree 5% Don’t Know 19%

Normative Comparisons ¾ Includes surveys conducted in over 300 jurisdictions ¾ Responses to more than 4,000 survey questions dealing with quality of community and services provided by local government. ¾ Jurisdictions represent a wide geographic & population range. Jurisdiction Characteristics % of Jurisdictions West Coast (AK, WA, OR, CA, HI) 25% West (MT, ID, WY, CO, UT, NV, AZ, NM) 12% North Central West (ND, SD, NE, KS, IA, MO, MN) 10% North Central East (IL, IN, OH, MI, WI) 15% South Central (OK, TX, LA, AR) 9% South (West VA, VA, KT, TN, MI, AL, GA, FL ,SC, NC, MD, DE, DC) 20% Northeast West (NY, PA, NJ) 4% Northeast East (CT, RI, MA, NH, VT, ME) 4% Population less than 40,000 25% 40,000 to 74,999 26% 75,000 to 149,000 20% 150,000 or more 29%

Normative Comparisons ¾ In 36 survey questions Dover was rated similar to the norm. ¾ In 23 survey questions Dover was rated below the norm. ¾ In 5 survey questions Dover was rated above the norm.

Above the Norm . . . ¾ I received a good value for the taxes I pay. ¾ Dover as a place to retire ¾ Yard waste pick up ¾ Services provided by the State Government ¾ Services provided by the Federal Government

Below the Norm . . . Activities ¾ Cultural ¾ Recreational Community ¾ Neighborhood as a place to live ¾ Overall quality of life ¾ Access to affordable housing ¾ Openness and acceptance ¾ Job opportunity

Below the Norm . . . City Services ¾ Drinking water ¾ Sewer services ¾ Variety of library material ¾ Quality of recreation programs/classes ¾ Snow removal Crime & Safety ¾ Violent crimes ¾ Property crimes ¾ Safety downtown – day/night ¾ Safety in parks – day/night ¾ Animal control

Any Questions?

Thank You Results of the Citizen Survey will be very much used in Performance Budgeting which is the next item on our agenda.

City of Dover Fiscal Year 2005 Performance Budget Presentation

Strategic Planning Time- Line ƒ Early 2002 – City Manager and City Council endorsed the development of a Strategic Organization Plan to unify programs and projects under a City Vision and Mission. ƒ Fall 2003 – City retained Mid-Atlantic Development to facilitate the development of a Strategic Plan. ƒ A Vision was developed. ƒ A Mission was developed. ƒ Critical Success Factors were identified. ƒ Goals were created by departments for the Fiscal Year 2004 budget. ƒ Pay for Performance was implemented in Fiscal Year 2005.

Spring 2004 The next step . . . integrating goals into the budget process.

Spring 2004 ƒ The City of Dover retained the services of Janet Kelly, an expert in performance budgeting, to assist department heads with: ƒ refining goals to more closely align with the six Critical Success Factors ƒ grouping departmental activities into programs so as to clearly identify what functions to accomplish and for whom ƒ developing OUTCOME MEASURES (tells us “how well”) for each of the Major Programs within a department

Spring 2004 (continued) ƒ reporting performance for each of the measures to monitor our accomplishments and reveal the effectiveness of current programs ƒ developing Strategic Objectives and measures and tying them to department budget requests to link Strategic Objectives with Citywide goals and requests with outcomes ƒ developing a new presentation format for the department budget pages so that changes in department request levels are clearly linked to departmental Strategic Objectives

Department Budget Page The presentation of the budget pages includes: ƒ Departmental Vision statement ƒ Major Programs and their service objectives and measures ƒ Strategic Objectives and their measures ƒ Budget requests if appropriate ƒ Explanatory information if needed

Performance Budget Format (sample) POLICE DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENTAL Proudly serve the community by protecting the life and VISION property of its citizens and visitors, enforcing the law, and working in partnership with the public to enhance the quality of life, as well as nurture public trust by holding ourselves to the highest standards of perform- ance and ethics.

Performance Budget Format (sample continued) MAJOR PROGRAMS CORE LAW Objective: The objective of this program is to continue ENFORCEMENT to provide timely response to calls for service and to continue to exceed national averages for criminal clearance rates. Measure: Establish bench mark for citizen satisfaction with police services from the Citizens Survey. In Fiscal Year 2004, police services were rated “good to excel- lent” by 72 percent of citizens responding to a survey. Previous 2004 Results: • Crime Analysis – Goals met. Participated in and re- fined the ongoing development of automated crime analysis systems with the State of Delaware, such as DELJIS, LEISS, and Real Time Crime Reporting, as well as data from the new automated vehicle collision reporting program.

Performance Budget Format (sample continued) STRATEGIC 1. Hire two police officers to implement a School OBJECTIVES FOR Resource Officer Program in two Capital School FISCAL YEAR District schools (Dover High School and Central 2004-2005 Middle School) within the City of Dover starting in School Year 2004-2005. This objective is part of the Core Law Enforcement program and advances the critical success factors of Citywide Safety and Effective Organizational and Community Communications. Measure: Implement the program – hire, train, place, and integrate officers into Capital School District by September 30, 2005. Budget: $118,575 – 110-1700-543.10-xx, Salary and Benefits – Increase Law Enforcement payroll for two additional police officer authorizations. Notes: Although the concept was approved by City Council in May 2004 as a request for grant funding from the U.S. Dept. of Justice, the grant has not been approved or awarded to date.

What Does This Accomplish? ƒ Promotes operational accountability ƒ Promotes financial accountability ƒ Accommodates political accountability ƒ Aligns service priorities and service spending ƒ Adds an important information dimension to budget deliberations

What Does This Accomplish? (continued) ƒ Motivates employees by recording progress toward service delivery goals ƒ Shows citizens their service providers care about improving service quality ƒ Improves communications to Council and citizens

Next Steps? ƒ Refining Performance Budgeting – improving on what we have built ƒ Bench Marking – integrating bench marking into our measures will identify major performance gaps and areas of strength and weakness.

Any Questions?

Thank You