The percent of respondents who rated the "City government's efforts to focus on the priorities that matter most to the residents" as either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied on the annual Community Survey.

The City has maintained a consistently high score over the past four years. Variation can be contributed to common cause with no statistical significance between the years. A decrease in this area would indicate a lack of follow through on the Strategic Plan and other high priority areas. In the 2018 Community Survey, 64% of the respondents were very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the City's ability to focus on priorities. The City will continue to work toward improving this score by remaining focus on the needs that are important to the resident and providing excellent services.

*The City did not administer a Community Survey in FY19, FY20 and FY21.

The Germantown Community Survey asks respondents to rate the importance assigned to a set of City Services and then provide the level of satisfaction they have with how they perceive the City is performing those services. The difference or “gap” between customer needs and perceived performance allows the identification of areas of improvement and the construction of a priority chart. A priority chart graphically displays the City Functions in terms of satisfaction and importance scores and helps set priorities for future initiatives to improve resident satisfaction. The chart is then overlaid with the City's budget to determine if spending is in the correct areas.

The City strives to control spending in areas of low-value and low-importance to residents. While these areas do have value, they are lower in importance as compared to other services. Based on the community survey, there are six areas in the City that are considered low-valued to the survey respondents. These areas include: walk-able community, code enforcement, community events, support for the arts in the community, farm park, and recreational programs and classes. Fiscal year 2018 shows that 6.6% of funding for some City functions was used in areas that are considered low-valued to residents. The 9.86 percentage point decrease between fiscal year 2017 and fiscal year 2018 is due to the "protecting our natural environment" moving from being considered low-value by residents in fiscal year 2017 to being considered high-valued in fiscal year 2018. Protecting our natural environment consist of stormwater, water well maintenance, sewer and sewer treatment funds which is very important for the City maintain. 

*The City did not administer a Community Survey in FY19, FY20 and FY21.