The quality of life is good in Rio Rancho. Don’t take our word for it or Money Magazine, which listed the City of Vision as one of the top 100 places to live in the country.

No, take the citizens of Rio Rancho’s word. More than 77 percent of respondents to a citizen survey rated the quality of life in Rio Rancho as excellent or good.

“Our community is starting to recognize that changes are starting to occur and the quality of life issue is very important to the community,” said Rio Rancho Mayor Tom Swisstack. “The city is constantly trying to fine-tune the quality of life in the city, everything from fire to police, education and recreational opportunities. The data will aid city officials and staff in adopting a long-range plan.

Swisstack says he and city staff will mesh the survey results with the information gathered in transition team reports and community meetings that were held earlier this year, to help develop a plan.

“Now, we will start setting priorities and lay out a business plan to address issues in the city,” Swisstack said.

He said the plan should be complete by March of 2009.

Survey questions dealt with community quality, community design, public safety, environmental sustainability, recreation and wellness, community inclusiveness, civic engagement and public trust.

This past July and August. 1,200 households were randomly selected from Rio Rancho addresses provided by the United States Postal Service. Residents were asked to respond to a series of customized survey questions about Rio Rancho and mail back their responses for tabulation. There are currently 24,690 households in the city.

Of the 1,200 surveys mailed out, 1,129 were able to be delivered by the USPS. Of that number, 351 surveys were returned to the city for a 31 percent response rate. This rate of return yielded a statistically valid survey of resident opinion that was random and representative of the entire community.

The three characteristics that received the most favorable ratings were air quality, quality of the overall natural environment and the variety of housing options.

On the flip side, the three characteristics that received the least favorable ratings were employment opportunities, opportunities to attend cultural activities and shopping opportunities.

“I acknowledge those activities need to be increased,” Swisstack said. “We are developing our economic base and we will continue to move forward. We have just developed a task force to deal with cultural issues and we will see what kind of recommendations they come back with.”

He predicts that within the next three years, the city will have 3,000 more jobs. With added jobs comes expanded retail opportunities, Swisstack said.

Hewlett-Packard, Central New Mexico Community College, the University of New Mexico and UNM Hospital are expected to be operating in downtown by the City Center in 2010 at the latest. Presbyterian Hospital is expected to begin operations the same year in the southern portion of the city.

Rio Rancho’s survey data was measured against the average rating from other communities across the country.

The city ranked higher than average in the following areas: a quality place to raise kids and retire; community and personal public safety; police, fire and EMS services; public schools and the availability of affordable quality housing and the variety of housing options.

However, the city ranked below the benchmark in 18 categories. Some of those include ease of car travel, traffic flow, sidewalks, overall appearance of the city, emergency preparedness and the opportunity to attend cultural activities.

The city’s survey was conducted as part of The National Citizen Survey. The NCS is a collaborative effort between the National Research Center, Inc and the International City/County Management Association. The NRS developed the NCS to provide a statistically valid survey of resident opinions about community and services provided by local government.

The survey helps the city identify community strengths and weaknesses, establish benchmarks for tracking the quality of services provided to residents and gain useful information for immediate and long-term planning.

“This survey has helped verify the services and components of our community that are strong and the areas on which we need to focus,” Swisstack said. “I am pleased that we are already addressing areas indicated by citizens that need improvement by way of four recently created task forces, collaboration with the school district on new initiatives, forthcoming projects to the downtown City Center and a March 2009 bond election that would initiate a citywide infrastructure program.”

To see the results of the survey, click here: http://www.ci.rio-rancho.nm.us/index.asp?NID=1087