p/ppQuality of life in Jefferson County, in the eyes of its residents, continues to steadily improve./ppThe Center for Community Studies at Jefferson Community College released Tuesday the results of its 17th annual Jefferson County Community Survey. The findings, which showed improvements almost entirely across the board, were unveiled during the Jefferson County Board of Legislators General Services committee meeting, /ppBased on the survey, only 5 percent of Jefferson County residents considered overall quality of life to be “poor,” an all-time low in the survey’s history. On the flip side, 67 percent rated quality of life as “excellent or good.”/ppPerceptions on healthcare has also reached a new high in terms of county healthcare access and quality being rated excellent or good. Around 53 percent of residents rated healthcare access as excellent or good, and healthcare quality was rated the same by 52 percent. The characteristics were rated poor by 13 percent and 16 percent respectively. /ppJefferson County residents perceiving the quality of K-12 education as excellent or good has grown to 66 percent, up from 49 percent last year. But that doesn’t mean Common Core gets a pass. Few Jefferson County residents — 6 percent of those surveyed — believe Common Core has improved education in New York state, and 47 percent believe it has worsened public education. /ppResidents also said housing availability has improved. Housing saw its lowest poor rating ever recorded at 9 percent. Last year’s poor rating was 13 percent. The rate of responding excellent or good has increased from 37 percent in 2005 to 66 percent this year. /ppOnly 27 percent rated “The Economy and Jobs” as the most prominent issue facing the nation. The rating has declined steadily since 2009, when the issue was rated high by 81 percent of residents. Other issues that residents are paying more attention to are government and leadership and drugs, which were cited by 19 percent and 10 percent. Both had low single-digit ratings last year. /ppOne particular area that saw a sharp decline in approval was downtown Watertown. The rate of which the downtown area was considered excellent decreased from 47 percent last year to 25 percent in 2016, and downtown’s poor rating increased from 18 percent to 26 percent./ppNew to the survey this year was a set of five potential issues community members were asked to rate based on their perceived severity and personal impact of each. Heroin and opioid abuse took the top spot with 65 percent, rating it the most severe, while mental illness was cited the least at 26 percent. However, mental illness had the highest personal impact on community members at 27 percent, and heroin and opioid abuse had the second-lowest rating with 18 percent reporting a personal impact. /ppResidents were also asked about the perceived impact the eventual upstate New York minimum wage increase to $12.50 will have on the community. About 49 percent said it would “neither improve or worsen” the impact. For those who will be personally affected by the increase, 23 percent said it would “worsen” their situation, and 17 percent said it would “improve” it./ppIn terms of family and personal finances, 56 percent of residents said nothing has changed over the last 12 months, and 25 percent said they’ve seen improvements. This year’s survey saw an all-time low rating of finances “getting worse” at 18 percent./p
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