Residents' Ratings of Prince William Rise

Survey Finds Improved Views of County Services Despite Cuts and Controversies

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors got a bit of good news last week: Residents like what the county is doing.

Despite the national recession and the county's controversial immigration policy, budget cuts and recent embezzlement scandal in the information technology office, almost 91 percent of Prince William residents are satisfied, overall, with county services, according to a study conducted by the University of Virginia's Center for Survey Research.

"This county has faced some very serious challenges in the last several years," said Thomas M. Guterbock, the center's director. And "it's tough to maintain a high level of satisfaction with services in a time of serious budget shortfalls. Prince William has managed to pull it off."

On Tuesday, Guterbock briefed the board on the results of the 17th annual citizen satisfaction survey. The nearly $100,000 study was conducted in May and June and reached 1,746 randomly selected county residents 18 and older. Although there is room for improvement, survey results show higher satisfaction with the direction of the county.

"Thanks for the great news," board Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large) said at Tuesday's meeting. "This is one of those occasions where you can't say you are going to shoot the messenger because you actually delivered us a good message."

Satisfaction with the quality of life in Prince William is the highest it has been in four years, with residents rating it at 7.3 on a 10-point scale. General satisfaction with the job the county is doing in giving residents value for their tax dollars is also up, from 74.8 percent in 2008 to 80.8 percent in 2009.

Police also scored better in this year's survey. After the board adopted an illegal immigration policy in 2007 and modified it last year, the police department's scores dropped among the county's Hispanic residents.

Last year, 72.8 percent of Hispanics were satisfied with the police department overall. That number increased to 85.5 percent this year. Among all residents, satisfaction with the department rose from 89 percent last year to 92.5 percent this year.

When looking at enforcement of the immigration policy, 85.5 percent of Prince William residents were satisfied with police efforts, up from 80.5 percent last year.

"I'm very pleased with the results," Police Chief Charlie T. Deane said. "I suspect some of the improved perception of what we are doing has had to do with people seeing the reality versus the rhetoric. We try to be fair, lawful and responsible. . . . I'm proud our officers are being received in a better light than when this was initially started."

Guterbock said the police department's community outreach on the immigration policy might have helped drive the numbers back up. Another possibility, he said, is that people who were highly dissatisfied have left the county.

The illegal immigration policy could have also affected residents' trust in government, which dipped to 58.4 percent last year but rebounded to about 63 percent this year.