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Aug 27, 2008, 12:06 PM
City gets grim report card on overall performance, especially from rural areas
Poll gives worst marks for managing money
Jake Rupert, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, August 27, 2008
City residents as a whole think municipal government is performing poorly, but those in suburban and rural areas think it's particularly bad, a new poll suggests. The survey was conducted for the Citizen by COMPAS Inc. last week.
It found that people think the city is doing a fair job controlling crime and picking up trash, but is terrible on other services, managing tax dollars and providing decent housing for low-income earners.
The survey asked 405 people across the city to give the municipal government marks for its performance in seven areas, and it's a pretty grim report card: a C-plus, a C, three D-minuses, and two Fs.
City Hall's performance doesn't rate well with voters, particularly rural ones, a new poll shows.View Larger Image View Larger Image
City Hall's performance doesn't rate well with voters, particularly rural ones, a new poll shows.
The poll on services was part of a larger one addressing several city issues, and it offers the clearest example of an overall trend showing people in the suburbs and rural areas are more dissatisfied with city government than those in the urban area, except when it comes to Mayor Larry O'Brien.
Those in the suburbs and rural areas think the mayor is doing a better job than those in the core, but on every other issue, they are more negative.
This comes despite a pair of "rural summits" aimed at addressing discontent on the edges of Ottawa and an aggressive campaign by the city at budget time to tell people about increased spending on rural road maintenance and municipal drains.
In every category of services people were asked to rate, suburban and rural residents scored the city's performance roughly five points lower on a scale of one to 100.
Compas president Conrad Winn says these are significant gaps, and show people in the suburbs and rural areas still resent the province's forced amalgamation of 12 governments into one city in 2001.
"These people are not happy," Mr. Winn said. "They are deeply troubled by a number of things, especially when it comes to controlling spending. That's a really low score."
Mr. Winn said after seven years, one might have expected opposition to the new, larger city from the suburbs and rural areas to wane, but the survey results show this is not happening.
He said the dissatisfaction could stem from the fact that some areas had governments with better financial performances than the old City of Ottawa, and residents now feel they are having to foot the bill for bad financial management. He also said the low performance numbers could be a true indication that service levels in the smaller municipalities have worsened.
Barrhaven Councillor Jan Harder sat on city council in the former municipality of Nepean, which came into amalgamation -- "kicking and screaming," she says -- with no debt and healthy reserves.
She said people in the suburban and rural areas have every right to be annoyed with the city because spending hasn't been controlled, service levels have dropped, and maintenance of everything from roads to recreation facilities isn't what it should be.
"I don't find this dissatisfaction level surprising at all," she said. "My area would benefit from going back to the old days. Service levels have dropped, and, in some cases, dramatically."
She says the most trying thing for people in her area is the way finances are handled, and the kind of things on which the city is spending money.
"I think over the last few years things have gotten better. But there is still a long, long way to go."
Question: Using a 100-point, school report card-type scale, what score would you give city hall for (the first column is results from all respondents, the second is from old Ottawa, and the third is from the suburbs and rural areas):
- Garbage and cleanliness 68 71 66
- Fighting crime 66 69 64
- Attracting new business 51 55 48
- Helping existing businesses 51 54 49
- Urban planning 50 53 48
- Spending public funds 45 49 43
- Housing for low-income earners 45 47 44
Poll of 405 Ottawa residents was conducted Aug. 21. Results are considered accurate to within 4.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008.
Poll gives worst marks for managing money
Jake Rupert, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, August 27, 2008
City residents as a whole think municipal government is performing poorly, but those in suburban and rural areas think it's particularly bad, a new poll suggests. The survey was conducted for the Citizen by COMPAS Inc. last week.
It found that people think the city is doing a fair job controlling crime and picking up trash, but is terrible on other services, managing tax dollars and providing decent housing for low-income earners.
The survey asked 405 people across the city to give the municipal government marks for its performance in seven areas, and it's a pretty grim report card: a C-plus, a C, three D-minuses, and two Fs.
City Hall's performance doesn't rate well with voters, particularly rural ones, a new poll shows.View Larger Image View Larger Image
City Hall's performance doesn't rate well with voters, particularly rural ones, a new poll shows.
The poll on services was part of a larger one addressing several city issues, and it offers the clearest example of an overall trend showing people in the suburbs and rural areas are more dissatisfied with city government than those in the urban area, except when it comes to Mayor Larry O'Brien.
Those in the suburbs and rural areas think the mayor is doing a better job than those in the core, but on every other issue, they are more negative.
This comes despite a pair of "rural summits" aimed at addressing discontent on the edges of Ottawa and an aggressive campaign by the city at budget time to tell people about increased spending on rural road maintenance and municipal drains.
In every category of services people were asked to rate, suburban and rural residents scored the city's performance roughly five points lower on a scale of one to 100.
Compas president Conrad Winn says these are significant gaps, and show people in the suburbs and rural areas still resent the province's forced amalgamation of 12 governments into one city in 2001.
"These people are not happy," Mr. Winn said. "They are deeply troubled by a number of things, especially when it comes to controlling spending. That's a really low score."
Mr. Winn said after seven years, one might have expected opposition to the new, larger city from the suburbs and rural areas to wane, but the survey results show this is not happening.
He said the dissatisfaction could stem from the fact that some areas had governments with better financial performances than the old City of Ottawa, and residents now feel they are having to foot the bill for bad financial management. He also said the low performance numbers could be a true indication that service levels in the smaller municipalities have worsened.
Barrhaven Councillor Jan Harder sat on city council in the former municipality of Nepean, which came into amalgamation -- "kicking and screaming," she says -- with no debt and healthy reserves.
She said people in the suburban and rural areas have every right to be annoyed with the city because spending hasn't been controlled, service levels have dropped, and maintenance of everything from roads to recreation facilities isn't what it should be.
"I don't find this dissatisfaction level surprising at all," she said. "My area would benefit from going back to the old days. Service levels have dropped, and, in some cases, dramatically."
She says the most trying thing for people in her area is the way finances are handled, and the kind of things on which the city is spending money.
"I think over the last few years things have gotten better. But there is still a long, long way to go."
Question: Using a 100-point, school report card-type scale, what score would you give city hall for (the first column is results from all respondents, the second is from old Ottawa, and the third is from the suburbs and rural areas):
- Garbage and cleanliness 68 71 66
- Fighting crime 66 69 64
- Attracting new business 51 55 48
- Helping existing businesses 51 54 49
- Urban planning 50 53 48
- Spending public funds 45 49 43
- Housing for low-income earners 45 47 44
Poll of 405 Ottawa residents was conducted Aug. 21. Results are considered accurate to within 4.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008.