According to results from a resident satisfaction survey conducted in September, 97 percent of residents polled described Los Gatos as a "good" or "excellent" place to live. However, residents also identified the lack of public parking as one of the leading causes of dissatisfaction.

"You're in a very elite group," Brian Godbe of Godbe Research & Analysis, the firm that conducted the survey, told the town council last month. Only three other cities of the roughly 50 in California for which Godbe has conducted such surveys earned resident satisfaction rates of over 90 percent, he said.

Of the 97 percent of people who said Los Gatos is a good place to live, 75 percent rated it as "excellent."

The survey consisted of phone interviews with 400 adults who were randomly selected. Because many of the people surveyed did not have opinions about a number of town services, the town may conduct additional surveys that target specific populations who actually use the services.

What was confirmed through the survey was that the majority of residents prefer getting information about town services online. Incidentally, of the areas where the town should improve services, providing more and better communication was the issue most cited by residents, followed by increasing parking.

The town launched a program in May that offers people a periodic "What's New" email update on town events. More than 300 people have subscribed to this service, said Pamela Jacobs, assistant town manager. More recently, the town changed its website address to www.losgatosca.gov because its former address was more difficult for people to remember, she said.

"We are, on a regular basis, thinking about how to make the website better. The really cool design is not imminent, but it is in the future," Jacobs said. "It's still not the most attractive and functional site in the world, but it's better than in the past."

The town receives about 1,700 hits per day on its site, with the main page to the library receiving the most visits each month, Jacobs said.

While the majority of people surveyed said they prefer receiving information about town services online, they also indicated the greatest preference to receive other news and information was through the Los Gatos Weekly-Times—more so than through any other medium.

The town also learned that residents would rather see money from any local tax increases go toward street and sidewalk improvements and police services rather than toward the building of a new library or improvements to town hall. However, none of these four scenarios carried a large majority support.

When asked whether she feared this information would jeopardize the library's chances of receiving funding, Library Director Peggy Conaway said she would support whatever "the community needs and wants and is willing to pay for."

For the most part, Los Gatans are pleased with police services (90 percent satisfaction) and the safety, accessibility and quality of town parks (over 90 percent approval).

One challenge of earning such a high satisfaction rating is that it makes it more difficult for the town to try to surpass this mark in future years, Godbe said.

Residents were split fairly evenly when asked whether they prefer the town to reduce services to stay within its current budget or to increase local taxes to continue funding all programs.

A financial analysis done by the town last month indicated it may have to reduce its operating budget another 6 percent for the 2004­05 fiscal year—on top of the 6 percent cutbacks it made this year.

"We do worry that with less resources, it will have negative impacts on our resident satisfaction," said Finance Director Steve Conway.