Citizens happy businesses less so in latest satisfaction survey

Calgarians seem pretty happy with the city, at least according to this year'scitizen satisfaction survey, but there's a gap between what businesses think and what citizens think.

According to the survey, conducted for the City of Calgary, 85 per cent of respondents said overall quality of life in Calgary is good.

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Additionally, 68 per cent say Calgary is a great place to make a living, but that's downsignificantly from the 90 per cent recorded in 2013.

When it comes to the economy, however, there are significant differences in opinion between local businesses and residents.

Good, not good

A slight majority of Calgarians thought the economic situation in the city was either very good or somewhat good (55 per cent in total)but local businesses thought things were either somewhat bad or very bad (76 per cent in total).

"You know, Ihave expressed my opinion, for example to the Chamber of Commerce, that it is time for a less partisan, more thoughtful and more constructive dialogue on services and what's paying for them," said Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

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"And they agree, I think, with that. And during the election, I talked about the need to set up a mayor's business council. We're going to do that as well to really try and get behind some of those numbers and understand that better."

Individuals also had more confidence in the city making the right decisions to move beyond the economic downturn (70 per cent versus 52 per cent of businesses)and that the city is working with private industry to strengthen the economy (70 per cent of citizens versus 39 per cent of businesses).

The tax question

Where businesses and citizens came together was in thinking now was a good time for the city to invest in new projects. In 2017, an average of 77 per cent of citizens agreed with that statement, while 75 per cent of businesses felt the same.

In a sign that the economy is recovering, the gap between those wanting to cut services to reduce or maintain taxes and those who want to see taxes go up to maintain or expand services is growing. Slightly.

This year, 50 per cent want to see taxes go up, while 45 per cent want service cuts. Last year, 49 per cent wanted more taxes and 46 per cent wanted cuts.

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When asked whether they were getting good value for their tax dollars, 60 per cent said yes and 11 per cent said no.

The city uses the results from the annual survey in developing its budget and program priorities.

The survey of 2,500 Calgarians, conducted by Ipsos,is considered accurate to within plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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