Palo Alto, CA -- City Auditor Sharon Erickson announced today that Palo Alto will be part of the National Citizen Survey™, sponsored by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

Within the next two weeks, the City Auditor will be sending questionnaires to a randomly selected sample of 1,200 Palo Alto residents, asking for feedback on the quality and usefulness of City services. The results will be included in the City Auditor's second annual Service Efforts and Accomplishments Report published in January 2004. This report discusses the cost, workload and efficacy issues around delivering City services.

ICMA's National Citizen Survey™ is conducted in cooperation with National Research Center, Inc. The standardized questionnaire and survey procedure allow cities to survey their residents on services in a very cost-efficient manner. The cost to the City will be $7,500, far below the cost of most surveys of this type.

Palo Alto will be one of the first northern California cities to participate in the National Citizen Survey™, now in its third year of existence. Some of the cities that have conducted The National Citizen Survey™ include Tucson and Sedona, Arizona; Watertown and Rye, New York; Boulder County and Denver, Colorado; and Palm Springs, Long Beach and Ridgecrest, California.

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