Survey: Residents more confident of county officials

Three years after a purchasing scandal that hobbled trust in Sarasota County government, residents’ confidence in local leaders continues to grow — at least according to a new survey by the Florida Institute of Government at Florida State University.

The 2014 Sarasota County Citizen Opinion Survey, which sampled 800 mostly-year-round residents, showed 47% of respondents trust local officials, compared with 32% in the same study last year. Trust in local leaders outweighs confidence in officials at the state and federal levels by 14 percentage points each.

“Those who rate county services more positively are more trustful of county leaders,” the survey states.

The number of citizens who chose population growth and new development as the county’s most important issue has increased from 3% in 2011 to 21% this year, reflecting an improving economy. While those most concerned about the economy and jobs fell from 39% three years ago to 7% in 2014.

Property taxes and gas prices are among the top reasons 67% of local households say they are experiencing fiscal stress, according to the survey. The amount of residents citing jobs and employment as a stressor fell from 9% in 2013 to 6% this year, following the downward trend in the unemployment rate in the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota metropolitan study area.

However, 43% of survey respondents cited the lack of jobs and industry as the biggest threat to the economy.

Other notable information from the survey includes:
+ More residents this year see property taxes and environmental deterioration as threats to the local economy than in 2013
+ The amount of local contractors who said county officials “helped in a timely manner” with issues increased from 70% last year to 81% in 2014
+ The most popular avenue for contacting a county official was with a direct phone call
+ Eighty percent of respondents say they use the Internet