Q&A of the Day – Palm Beach County’s Resident Survey
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio This is great. You should talk about it and encourage people to take the survey. Maybe a more responsive government?
Bottom Line: Today’s note included a link to the county’s just released survey for residents to take eliciting feedback across a whole host of categories. It’s presented as a genuine effort to elicit information regarding what matters most to you so that county leaders can craft policy decisions around those priorities. As Palm Beach County stated in their news release when they posted this survey yesterday...
Palm Beach County Wants Your Feedback As we approach 2024, Palm Beach County is seeking public input to help identify what is most important to our residents.
A countywide survey, available in English, Spanish, and Creole, is now available and will remain open until December 1, 2023. The data collected will provide valuable feedback for county staff to ensure that objectives and processes are in alignment with what is important to our residents.
From there the survey launches into a host of categories collecting generic demographic information on the residents who take the survey before asking questions that hit at the quality-of-life considerations and what our personal priorities for our county happen to be. The questions include:
- How long have you lived in Palm Beach County?
- How would you rate the overall quality of life in Palm Beach County?
- Would you recommend Palm Beach County to a friend, family member, or acquaintance?
- Do you think the County is continuously improving to meet demands?
Then the survey dives into the county’s strategic priorities and asks our opinion on how well they’re addressing them. Those priorities are these:
- Economic Development
Promote economic revitalization, business development and retention by driving the creation of employment opportunities while reducing disparities and improving the quality of life for everyone. (Growth/increase in Jobs, Businesses, Investment, Farming, Tourism)
- Infrastructure
Provide and maintain the needed structures, systems and transportation services that establish the foundation required to enhance the quality of Life of every resident.
(Improvement in Roads, Bridges, Buildings, Public Transportation)
- Housing and Homelessness
Promote the quality of life through targeted programs that address the housing and homelessness needs of the residents of Palm Beach County.
(Affordable Housing, Rent/Mortgage Assistance, Homeless Resource Centers)
- Public Safety
To ensure a safe, secure and peaceful community.
(Fire Rescue, Law Enforcement, 911 Services, Disaster Response)
- Environmental Protection
Promote programs and activities that protect, preserve and enhance natural resources while providing sustainable living and developing a climate of resilience.
(Beaches, Natural Areas, Parks, Natural Waterways and Lakes)
- Substance Use and Behavior Disorders
To address the substance misuse crisis and behavior disorders by providing evidence-based prevention, medication-assisted treatment, and recovery support services.
(Mental Health and Wellness, Alcohol and Substance Use)
- Additional Strategic Priority
Is there another, or different Strategic Priority that you would like addressed?
Next up, a section on the County’s Top Issues and Concerns which lists a host of them and asks you to assign a priority level to each of them. The issues run the gamut from traffic and roads to affordable housing and speaking of which they specifically ask about something we frequently have talked about on this show and that’s property taxes. For those who need a refresher... Palm Beach County is ranked 166th out of 3,143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of income – which means the burden of those taxes relative the ability of the community to afford them is only outdone by 5% of the counties in the country. We should all have something to say about that one.
And last but not least there’s a short essay section which asks...
- What do you feel Palm Beach County Government does well?
- How do you feel Palm Beach County Government could do better?
This is an opinion survey – so your opinion is what’s most important here. With that said context is always key and according to Niche, and numerous other resources which provide comparative rankings, Palm Beach County ranks well above average in most categories within the state of Florida. This includes these PBC ranks in these categories (out of Florida’s 67 counties):
- Healthiest county (#2)
- Most diverse (#5)
- Best for outdoor activities (#8)
- Best for young professionals (#9)
- Best for families (#14)
- Best overall to live in (#14)
- Best for retirees (#17)
Where Palm Beach County commonly underperforms is with crime, homelessness and housing affordability.
Like the listener who submitted today’s topic, I love the willingness of the county to put together such a thorough and thoughtful survey. Over the many years we discussed a myriad of issues that concern all of us about our local governments. This survey is the most genuine outreach effort I can ever recall. We should all take a few minutes to take it. We just might get what we ask for. We clearly now have a county commission that’s interested in hearing from us. The survey is open until December 1st, but like with most anything else procrastination will probably lead to forgetting so let’s knock this survey out. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and probably is more inclined to vote too. This is a great opportunity to advocate for what we want to see happen in our community. I love Florida. I love Palm Beach County and this will always be my home...but there's a lot of room for improvement and we finally appear to have a government interested in doing it.