Sarasota County conducts an annual citizen opinion survey that asks respondents to rank how important it is for the county to work on specific quality-of-life issues.

The value of such questions is that they give citizens a voice in county policy choices that affect their lives which, in turn, bolsters their trust in government.

For local officials, the results show how much issue consensus there is among their constituents and enables them to detect significant shifts in citizens’ policy priorities.

The complete survey is usually posted online every September.