For the fifth year, overdevelopment tops the list of concerns. Four out of five say they worry about money.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: November 1, 2024
Host: Sarasotans are happy campers. Super happy campers. That’s if you believe the 2024 Sarasota County Citizen Opinion Survey. This is an annual poll — the 33rd in a row — performed by USF’s Department of Government and International Affairs and a Tampa-based research firm.
Johannes Werner: The survey takers reached 1,250 residents in July and August by landline or cell phone. Two major flooding events happened during the survey period, but the calls were made ahead of two hurricanes with impacts of historical proportions.
Storms or not, a whopping 98% told the pollsters that the general quality of life in Sarasota is “excellent” or “good”. The “excellents” were trending down during the pandemic, but they rose again this year.
Sarasotans’ biggest concerns, according to the pollsters.
Sarasota County outperforms other municipalities in the Tampa Bay area that use USF’s survey service. Asked by one of the county commissioners in last week’s meeting, one of the survey organizers put it this way: Sarasota is “in Michael Jordan territory”.
To be sure, community activists have raised questions about the way the survey is conducted. Concerns range from the reliance on landlines to make calls, the lack of questions about primary residency, to — most importantly — the way questions are asked.
Also, the survey is kind of biased towards satisfaction rather than concerns. The 12-minute interview begins by gauging the happiness and satisfaction of residents. The questions are about overall life quality, and the services the county provides.
But then there’s the second part — when participants get a chance to gripe, in response to a list of issues presented to them. For the fifth year in a row, overdevelopment is the top concern. Twenty-six percent of respondents said “population growth/new development” is at the top of their mind. That’s way ahead of the second item — the 10% who said there’s no serious problem — and No. 3, which is “crime”. That was cited by 9%.
Here’s how pollster Joshua Scacco put it, in wonkish terms.
Joshua Scacco: For the fifth year in a row, population growth and development rises to the top of the mind for individuals as the most important issue facing Sarasota County. We see second here, those saying that there are no serious problems, that has fallen now to about 10%. And for the past five years, what has been at the top of consciousness is population growth and new development.
JW: As recently as five years ago, the “no problem at all” crowd was still the largest. But that switched in 2020. Community activist Glenna Blomquist says that, despite this being the top concern, neither voters, nor the county commissioners are reacting.
Glenna Blomquist: Well, they’re not connecting that who they vote for — both on a state level and a local level, because Tallahassee decides a lot of our rules about development. And so, if you’re straight party line, you can complain all you want, but bottom line, it’s who you vote for.
JW: And how does the county commission react to this top concern, if at all?
GB: Oh, they don’t. It just doesn’t matter. It’s been on the radar for years.
Glenna Blomquist
JW: Another question in the survey asks about the “greatest stressor on household finances”. A whopping four out of five respondents say they do worry about money. Five years ago, those who said there was no financial stress at all made up a whopping 43%. That happy group has been declining every year since then, and is now down to 20%.
Meanwhile, those in the financially stressed camp picked the general “household finances” as the top reason for their financial stress. That is followed by taxes, personal debt, gas prices, health care costs, and property insurance.
Community activist Glenna Blomquist says the Sarasota County Commissioners use the survey for their own goals.
GB: They use it as a rationale to keep taxes low or reduce taxes, which at a local level reduces staff or staff salaries, so they’ll use information to their end and to their ideology, and so it gets back to why are they doing this survey if they’re asking questions about stressors. How much can they impact the stressors, why do they need to know that if they can’t have any impact? Or are they cherry-picking things that they can use as an excuse to reduce our services and our staff salaries.
JW: Recent funding cuts by county commissioners have targeted childcare and a 211 helpline. Blomquist thinks this should be included in survey questions about financial stressors.
GB: I wonder if that came in, if that was an available comment in the survey. That would be an interesting thing to know, if people feel that it’s a sad thing that we have given up funding arts and childcare and 211. It would be interesting to know.
JW: Johannes Werner, reporting for WSLR News.
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