2024 Community Survey

City of Washougal's 2024 Community Survey Results Provide Insight into Progress and Future Direction

The City of Washougal's 2024 Community Survey findings have been released and emphasize a strong sense of satisfaction among residents regarding City services. The survey is an objective tool for gathering input from the community. The data reflects a positive perception of the City, indicating an overall upward trend in ratings. Notably, in 50 out of 54 areas surveyed since 2022, levels either remained consistent or improved. Furthermore, the City has seen substantial growth, with 27 areas showing significant increases of 5% or more.

Summary Findings

  1. The City is definitely moving in the right direction! 
    1. Satisfaction increased in 50 of 54 areas that were assessed since 2022
  2. The Importance-Satisfaction Analysis identified three areas as very high priorities for improvement:
    1. Economic development
    2. Street maintenance
    3. Water utilities
  3. Residents support a wide range of unfunded transportation improvements
    1. Improvements to Washougal River Road ranked #1 
  4. The top priorities for parks & recreation improvements that are currently unfunded were:
    1. Expanding the Trail System
    2. Improving Waterfront Parks
    3. Improving Sandy Swimming Hole Waterfront Park
    4. Developing a New Indoor Recreation Center

About the Survey

ETC Institute administered the DirectionFinder® survey for the City of Washougal during the spring of 2024. The survey was administered as part of the City’s effort to assess citizen satisfaction with the quality of services. The information gathered from the survey will help the City align its priorities with the needs of residents. This is the sixth time that Washougal has administered a community survey with ETC Institute; the first survey was conducted in the summer of 2014.

A five-page survey was mailed to a random sample of 3,000 households in the City of Washougal. The survey was accompanied by a cover letter explaining the purpose of the survey and included a link for giving residents the option to complete the survey online. Of the households that received a survey, 507 responded. The results for the random sample of 507 households have a 95% level of confidence with a precision of at least +/-4.3%.

Categories Surveyed

Areas surveyed include Parks and Recreation, Public Safety, Communication, Streets, Code Enforcement and Customer Service. Eighty-six percent (86%) of residents surveyed were satisfied with the quality of fire, emergency medical and ambulance services; seventy-six percent (76%) were satisfied with the quality of police services, sixty-nine percent (69%) were satisfied with the quality of customer service from City employees, and sixty-six percent (66%) were satisfied with the quality of City parks. Notable increases in satisfaction of major categories of service over the 2022 survey include streets (+12%), code enforcement (+12%), and customer service (+11%).

Regional and National Benchmarking

The study includes comparative data from cities nationwide and in the northwest region (Figure 1). Washougal stands out in several quality categories, surpassing others in fire/emergency medical/ambulance services, police services, customer service, and city parks. Moreover, the city exceeds national and regional averages in effectively communicating with the public and enforcing city codes and ordinances.

Figure 1. 
Overall Ratings of City Services. Washougal vs. Northwest Region vs. the U.S.

2024 Community Survey - Trends: Satisfaction with Major Categories of Service 2014-2024

What we should focus on moving forward

The results offer valuable insights into areas where the city can concentrate its efforts for improvement. Enhancing the City's performance should involve focusing on several key areas: improving the maintenance of City streets, effectiveness of economic development efforts and improving the quality of water utilities. The City is actively addressing economic development concerns by appointing its first Strategic Initiatives Manager, marking a significant step forward in this regard.

About ETC Institute

ETC Institute was founded in 1982 by Dr. Elaine Tatham to help local governments gather data from residents to enhance community planning. The firm has grown from a small one-person company to a national corporation. Since its founding, ETC Institute has completed research projects for clients in 49 states. This includes thousands of surveys, focus groups, and stakeholder meetings.

View the Community Survey Findings Final Report2024 Community Survey

View the Presentation of the 2024 Community Survey Results:

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Watch the Presentation from the June 1, 2024 Planning Session:

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Highlighted Data

MAjor FINDINGS OF THE 2024 COMMUNITY SURVEY

  • Residents are satisfied with city services.

    86% of residents surveyed were satisfied with the quality of fire, emergency medical and ambulance services; 76% were satisfied with the quality of police services, 69% were satisfied with the quality of customer service from City employees, and 66% were satisfied with the quality of City parks. Residents were least satisfied with effectiveness of economic development efforts (29%).

  • There are 3 city services that should receive the most emphasis over the next two years.

    Based on the sum of their top three choices, the services that residents indicated should receive the most emphasis from the City over the next two years were: (1) maintenance of City streets, (2) effectiveness of economic development efforts, and (3) quality of city water utilities.

  • Residents have a positive perception of the city.

    69% of residents surveyed were satisfied with the overall feeling of safety in the City; 64% were satisfied with the overall quality of life in the City, and 59% were satisfied with the quality of services provided by the City. Residents were least satisfied with the availability of job opportunities (19%).

  • Residents are satisfied with the appearance/maintenance of existing city parks.

    62% of residents surveyed, who had an opinion, were satisfied with the appearance/maintenance of existing city parks. Residents were least satisfied with the number of City parks (51%).

  • Residents are extremely satisfied with the quality of fire and EMS services and response times.

    82% of residents surveyed were satisfied the quality of local fire protection and rescue services; 81% were satisfied with how quickly fire and rescue personnel respond, 74% were satisfied with how quickly ambulance personnel respond, and 74% were satisfied with the quality of local ambulance service. Residents were least satisfied with parking enforcement services (47%).

Previous Community Surveys

  1. 2022 Community Survey Report.pdf.pdf
  2. 2020 Community Survey Report.pdf.pdf
  3. 2018 Community Survey Report.pdf.pdf
  4. 2016 Community Survey Report.pdf
  5. 2014 Community Survey Results Overview.7.14.14.pdf