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Burlington, Ont. – Feb. 13, 2024—The City of Burlington is pleased to announce the results of its recent 2023 Community Survey. This study measures resident satisfaction with City services and explores residents’ thoughts on City priorities across all six wards. The results help guide future actions, priorities, and decisions on City services.
The Community Survey provides the City with statistically representative baseline data. The City benchmarks progress against previous years of survey data. The data collection was conducted by a consultant.
Key 2023 Community Survey highlights include:
- 92 per cent of respondents were “Somewhat satisfied” to “Very satisfied” with the services provided by the City of Burlington
- Quality of life was rated highly with 79 per cent of respondents ranking Burlington “Very good” or “Excellent”
- 81 per cent of respondents were at least “Somewhat satisfied” with their most recent interaction with the City
- 80 per cent of residents at least “Somewhat agreed” that they would like to provide input to the City for the purpose of influencing decision-making about city projects and services
- The City of Burlington outperformed both the Ontario and national averages for both quality of life and overall satisfaction with services
- Services that were identified as strengths through community feedback are Fire Services, parks, sports fields and trails, recreation facilities and festivals and events
- Survey respondents would like to see road safety and traffic, cost of housing, over-development, public transportation and pedestrian infrastructure and infrastructure improvements prioritized.
Resident opinions on property taxes, transit options and City related information and communications were included such as:
- 39 per cent of respondents would be in favour of at least a small tax increase to maintain service levels and 18 per cent reported a preference for increasing taxes to improve services (57 per cent total)
- Residents who have not used the transit system most commonly had not used it either because they own a car (36 per cent) or because they felt it was generally not convenient (27 per cent)
- 81 per cent of respondents were “Somewhat satisfied” to “Very satisfied” with the overall quality of City information and communications.
Improvement opportunities and context
There is an opportunity to continuously improve on resident well-being and satisfaction with City services. City service satisfaction results were analyzed using a derived importance methodology. This means those results were prioritized using performance, room for improvement and derived importance for each service. Council services, transit service, bylaw enforcement, roadway and sidewalk maintenance and parking management are the top five areas for primary opportunities for the City to consider based on the feedback heard. There are also opportunities in the areas of community engagement and communications.
The consultant shared several studies have cited a decline in public sentiment and satisfaction scores towards various aspects of governance and public services, globally and in Canada. Although there was a softening of some results from previous City of Burlington Community Surveys, the City of Burlington outperformed both the Ontario and national averages for both quality of life and overall satisfaction with services.
How the City is using the data
Resident input from this survey helps City Council and City staff prioritize where resources and time should be spent. The survey results are one input for review of the City’s four-year work plan, Burlington’s Plan From Vision to Focus 2022-2026 and the City’s Strategic Plan. In the workplan, results from the community survey on community satisfaction of people feeling involved and informed about city business and receiving great service are included. The City uses these results to help measure how well the City is doing. The results help the City prioritize issues and focus on improvement opportunities.
How residents can continue to be engaged
The City of Burlington relies on residents to make sure community interests are represented. Speaking at a Committee or Council meeting is a great way to keep the City informed and accountable to your needs. Residents can register to speak at a meeting and have the option to delegate in-person in Council Chambers or remotely. Those wishing to speak at an upcoming meeting must register before the meeting at burlington.ca/delegate. Residents can also stay up-to-date on City of Burlington news and subscribe to newsfeeds, calendars, and webpages at burlington.ca/subscribe and look out for the City Talk publication that is sent to resident homes with City updates. The public can also visit and register for updates at Get Involved Burlington and have their say on City of Burlington projects at getinvolvedburlington.ca.
Burlington is a city where people, nature and business thrive. Sign up to learn more about Burlington at Burlington.ca/Enews and follow @CityBurlington on social media.
Quick Facts
- The 2023 Community Survey engagement started the week of Sept. 25, 2023. Burlington residents were called by random selection and asked the same questions. The survey closed on Oct. 7, 2023.
- A combination of land and cell phone numbers were contacted by random selection. The goal was to complete 750 interviews/surveys, with 125 completed per ward. The total reached surpassed this with 784 completed interviews/surveys with the margin of error of +/-3.5 per cent at a 95 per cent confidence level. This means a representative sample of Burlington’s population was engaged according to universal and widely accepted professional research standards.
- An online survey was available to give residents whose telephone numbers were not chosen an opportunity to provide input.
- Given the level of accuracy used for this survey, increasing the sample size (number of interviews) would not provide any measurable benefit and would not change the concluded findings.
- Results were weighted to the exact proportions of the population by age and ward with Census 2021 Statistics Canada data.
- The Community Survey is now conducted every two years. The most recent community surveys were completed in 2019 and 2021.
To access the full 2023 Community Survey results, please visit getinvolvedburlington.ca/2023communitysurvey.
Quotes
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward
“The insights gained from the 2023 Community Survey are invaluable as we strive to continue building a connected community that reflects the diverse voices and needs of our residents. The 2023 Community Survey results are a good news story for Burlington. Our City outperformed both the provincial and national averages for both quality of life and overall satisfaction with services. This is a testament to the work of City Council and City staff in partnership with our residents to ensure Burlington continues to be among the most livable cities in Ontario and Canada. We also acknowledge that several indicators around community engagement have dropped and that is a trend we’re seeing across the country due to general anxiety around the economy and other matters. We take this seriously and will do everything we can to be responsive to residents and ensure your voices are heard in City matters. It is important the City continues to deliver outstanding services for our growing community and at levels they expect. Resident feedback from the 2023 Community Survey helps us continuously improve the delivery of municipal services and update the designs of our service programs. These results also inform the tangible performance targets the City is working towards to ensure we are positively impacting residents’ quality of life, their sense of belonging, and their health and social well-being.”
Oanh Kasperski, Director, Corporate Communications & Engagement
“Public engagement and input are vital to the City’s strategic planning and customer experience work. What we hear from residents from across Burlington about their level of satisfaction with City services and priorities helps the City do better. It helps the City assess how much we are doing, how well we did it and what approach we can take to better services and experiences for our community. Sincerest thank you to the residents who participated in the survey, emphasizing the importance of continued collaboration with our community.”
Links and Resources
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Communications contact: Suzanne Vukosavljevic Manager of Corporate Communications |
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