More than 100 questions later and it seems the city has at least some direction on where to go in the future.

"This is one of our most important tools at gauging (the views of city residents),” Rob Fendrick, the city's director of administrative services, told a Tuesday afternoon media briefing on the citizens survey done every two years.

The city released the results of its 2010 survey, finding that 77 per cent of those who responded believe they are receiving fair value for their taxes.

That's up two per cent from when the last survey was done in 2008, though it's down two per cent from 2006, when 79 per cent of respondents said they were satisfied with what they are getting for their taxes.

It was one of 113 questions asked of the 502 people who choose to be part of the approximately 40- to 50-minute survey that was conducted through February and March.

The city started with 1,288 randomly selected names from the city's voters list. The response rate of 502 represents the second-largest number of people who have chosen to take part since the city began doing the survey in 1998.

"Statistically, with a random sample as large as 502, the city can be 95 per cent confident that the percentages quoted are within +/- five per cent of what the response would be from the entire population of Whitehorse electors,” notes a backgrounder provided to the media at yesterday's briefing.

"Therefore, the city can say it is 95 per cent sure 77 per cent (+/- five per cent) of Whitehorse citizens feel they are receiving fair value for taxes based on a sample size of 502.”

Although most people believe they are getting fair value for their tax dollars, they clearly don't want to pay any more than they have to.

The city has looked at permitting property owners to pay their annual property tax bills by credit card, but it has never gone ahead with it because of the substantial service fees that are charged to businesses and service providers providing credit services.

Because property taxes are such large amounts, the service fees would require the city to add more to property taxes, Fendrick explained.

In the survey, officials opted to question residents about whether they would be willing to take on the service fee in order to use their credit cards to pay taxes.

An overwhelming 80 per cent said no, making it clear to officials like Fendrick that it's not something for the city to pursue.

Similarly, the city won't likely move forward on calls to allow those who own property in the city, but who don't live within municipal boundaries after 62 per cent told surveyors they weren't in favour of it.

"There's not a huge groundswell (of support),” Fendrick said.

The Association of Yukon Communities also took a stand on the issue, voting earlier this year against taking the matter to the Yukon government.

A change to the territory's Municipal Act would be required before that could go ahead.

"At this point, that would not be moving forward at all,” said city manager Dennis Shewfelt.

In other cases, the answers surveyors received could see the city taking more action on issues.

Among those were issues of public safety. Though the city has no jurisdiction over public health and safety issues, Fendrick said the statistics showing that 71 per cent believe drug and substance abuse is one of the biggest safety problems in the city will see the city bring those concerns to the RCMP during their regular meetings.

"It's an area we will be working on,” Fendrick said.

Among the other top safety concerns were drinking and driving, at 56 per cent; traffic/driving/speeding, at 48 per cent; vandalism and graffiti, at 42 per cent; and finally, theft/break and enter at 41 per cent.

Looking at city roads, Fendrick said concerns over speeding and traffic were especially high on Second Avenue, where 47 per cent listed that as a top concern.

The city, he explained, has looked in the past at changes to Second Avenue to address speeding on the artery.

"This will add impetus to that,” he said.

Among the other top-rated roads for traffic and speeding concerns were Two Mile Hill, at 35 per cent, Hamilton Boulevard, at 30 per cent, the intersection of Hamilton Boulevard and Falcon Drive, at 25 per cent, school zones, at 24 per cent, intersections throughout the city in general, at 23 per cent and general problems at 20 per cent.

Throughout the survey, the city also explored public input, its utility services and so on.

The survey results will help the city as it moves into strategic planning exercises that will determine where the city moves in the future, said Shewfelt and Fendrick.

Council met with senior management at noon today to discuss the results of the survey, which will then be posted in full on the city's website at www.city.whitehorse.yk.ca

Internal city meetings for staff are also set to happen later this week.

A more formal report to city council will also be presented at Monday's meeting.

The city spent $7,500 on the survey.