According to a body known as Osur - Observatorio de Servicios Urbanos (the urban services observatory), 53% of Palma residents are satisfied with municipal services, while 29% are dissatisfied.
The market researchers Ipsos carried out a survey for Osur last month. Over 5,000 people in the thirty largest cities in Spain responded. Its aim was to measure levels of satisfaction with services. The managing director of Osur, Ramiro Aurín, says that the valuation of services in Palma is the worst of all and that "there has been a feeling of deterioration in the past two years".
He accepts that a survey carried out in July may well lead to poor results, but he points out that a totally public management of services - which is the case in Palma - may mean that there is less flexibility in adjusting to holiday seasonal demand than if there were private sector management.
So, although there is 53% satisfaction, this is not as high as in other cities. The national average satisfaction level is 62%. The average for dissatisfaction is 21%.
Water supply was rated higher than any other service (64%), though this was for the continuity of supply, pressure and meter function. Customer service got only a 47% approval, while sewerage was 45%. Care of green areas (59%), rubbish collection frequency (57%) and public transport to the city's various districts (56%) were other services that had reasonably high satisfaction levels.
As with other services, rubbish collection was qualified by lower levels of satisfaction. In this instance there was 46% for the selective collection containers (recycling and general rubbish) and 37% for customer service.
When it came to cleaning, there were notably negative results: 62% dissatisfaction with street cleaning and 61% dissatisfaction in respect of cleaning up dog excrement.
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I agree with Geoff, poor show on the actual respondent numbers, however this kind of survey is important and there is a need to improve the service offered to residents. The island is amazing in so many ways and it generates a lot of tax from tourists. It's very important that this is reinvested in keeping the city clean and tidy and not just the tourist hotspots.
I once sat next to an accountant on a plane and she said you can make 'numbers' do anything you want. Paint whatever picture you like, it's all about how you manipulate them. Certain football players do this on their tax returns, so do others apparently. I would say that a 'survey' that involves 'Over 5,000 people in the thirty largest cities in Spain' is not much of a survey. That's 0.01073883% of the population. That averages to less than 175 people per 'large city' even if it was proportioned equally, which we know it was not.