Basic City Services
Delivering services that are measurable, efficient, collaborative, outcomes-oriented, and resident-focused
Seattle residents rely on the City to provide basic services, such as utilities, fire, police, roads, permits, and much more. Part of being a well-run city government means holding ourselves accountable to residents by demonstrating how effectively we are delivering these essential services. The data and feedback that are a part of this dashboard help us to understand the efficiency and effectiveness of services, so that we may innovate and improve. It also helps us begin to understand that Communities of Color face significant barriers in receiving services. Seattle is committed to eliminating racial disparities by addressing structural racism, implementing racially equitable service delivery, and improving access to services. Initiatives such as the Race and Social Justice Initiative, Language Access, and Environmental Justice and Service Equity help us address these barriers.
Deliver services reliably
What we track: Percentage of service requests addressed within the target time frame
Why is this important?
This measure reports on the most basic public goods that residents rely on, from 911 response to fixing street lights to picking up garbage and more. Tracking whether or not the City is meeting expected response times is one way we are able to improve the experience for residents and begin to understand and close equity gaps in service delivery.
This measure reports on the most basic public goods that residents rely on, from 911 response to fixing street lights to picking up garbage and more. Tracking whether or not the City is meeting expected response times is one way we are able to improve the experience for residents and begin to understand and close equity gaps in service delivery.
Hover over each bar to see Citywide service performance
How we measure:
For this data set, we selected services that were most sought after based on resident use of the seattle.gov website. This data set illustrates how effectively we are meeting service delivery goals by averaging service delivery performance across multiple services and departments (e.g. repave 80% of reported potholes within 3 business days) to create one Citywide measure of performance.
For this data set, we selected services that were most sought after based on resident use of the seattle.gov website. This data set illustrates how effectively we are meeting service delivery goals by averaging service delivery performance across multiple services and departments (e.g. repave 80% of reported potholes within 3 business days) to create one Citywide measure of performance.
Measures are updated weekly or monthly depending on the service. For measures that are updated monthly, data is applied to each week in the month. Because some departments require more manual processing than others, 'no value' may appear for some services in recent dates. Data will automatically populate as it becomes available.
For a detailed description of individual department measures and targets, see the "Service Delivery" section under "What is included in the data?".
What progress are we making?
The data illustrates that department response times, in aggregate, have remained stable over time. In the month of February, we saw multiple weeks of snowfall and icy road conditions. Seattle monitored performance measures daily to ensure residents were receiving basic services such as garbage pick-up and fire/police response, and saw response times decrease during the storm. After the storm, service delivery performance returned to previous rates. The dip in most recent months is due to a normal data-processing lag as data populates across services from different departments.
Highlights
Seattle is committed to improving the effectiveness of service delivery by setting and meeting response times. Seattle Light's System Status map provides expected power restoration estimates and allows residents to track the progress of a specific outage in real-time. Seattle continues to work to improve the experience of residents, whether it is applying for a permit or understanding the progress of a service request.
Seattle is committed to improving the effectiveness of service delivery by setting and meeting response times. Seattle Light's System Status map provides expected power restoration estimates and allows residents to track the progress of a specific outage in real-time. Seattle continues to work to improve the experience of residents, whether it is applying for a permit or understanding the progress of a service request.
Provide responsive customer service
What we track: Percentage of initial customer contacts addressed within the target time frame
Why is this important?
Part of City of Seattle’s commitment to being resident-focused is delivering a fast, effective customer experience. Although City of Seattle works to provide residents with online access to address common customer service requests - including paying bills, dealing with emergencies, applying for permits, and resolving health and safety hazards on public property - there are times when residents need personal assistance accessing services. Because customer service is the first step in delivering these services, we want to ensure that we are providing initial support in a timely way by phone, letter, email, in-person, or through mobile application. In the case of an emergency, a call center's quick response can be a matter of life and death.
Part of City of Seattle’s commitment to being resident-focused is delivering a fast, effective customer experience. Although City of Seattle works to provide residents with online access to address common customer service requests - including paying bills, dealing with emergencies, applying for permits, and resolving health and safety hazards on public property - there are times when residents need personal assistance accessing services. Because customer service is the first step in delivering these services, we want to ensure that we are providing initial support in a timely way by phone, letter, email, in-person, or through mobile application. In the case of an emergency, a call center's quick response can be a matter of life and death.
Hover over each bar to see call center performance
How we measure:
Emergency and non-emergency call centers across the City of Seattle provide initial support by phone, letter, email, in-person, or through mobile application. This measure illustrates how well we are meeting our goal of responding to initial customer contacts within the target time frames citywide by averaging call center performance across departments (e.g., answer 80% of Customer Service Bureau calls within 60 seconds) to create one citywide measure.
Emergency and non-emergency call centers across the City of Seattle provide initial support by phone, letter, email, in-person, or through mobile application. This measure illustrates how well we are meeting our goal of responding to initial customer contacts within the target time frames citywide by averaging call center performance across departments (e.g., answer 80% of Customer Service Bureau calls within 60 seconds) to create one citywide measure.
Measures are updated weekly or monthly depending on the service. For measures that are updated monthly, data is applied to each week in the month. Because some departments require more manual processing than others, 'no value' may appear for some services in recent dates. Data will automatically populate as it comes available.
For a detailed description of individual department measures and targets, see the "Customer Service" section under "What is included in the data?".
What progress are we making?
Overall, the percent of initial customer contacts addressed within target time frames has been stable throughout the year, with the exception of February's snow storm. In February, the utility call center received a much higher volume of calls than usual due to service issues, such as delayed garbage collection and other storm-related issues.
Highlights
The Customer Service Bureau (206-684-CITY) is responsible for helping residents navigate City services, make inquiries, and provide feedback. Part of the Service Bureau's offerings is a webpage that displays popular service requests, links to a full list of services, and the Find it Fix it application, which continues to be a popular way to make a request for services, such as streetlight repair, graffiti removal, pothole repair, parking enforcement, sign and signal repair, graffiti, abandoned vehicles, and more, via mobile phone.
The Customer Service Bureau (206-684-CITY) is responsible for helping residents navigate City services, make inquiries, and provide feedback. Part of the Service Bureau's offerings is a webpage that displays popular service requests, links to a full list of services, and the Find it Fix it application, which continues to be a popular way to make a request for services, such as streetlight repair, graffiti removal, pothole repair, parking enforcement, sign and signal repair, graffiti, abandoned vehicles, and more, via mobile phone.
Seattle Police Department recently published a Calls for Service Dashboard that provides more visibility into the types of calls the department receives, from which neighborhood, and the call center's response time.
24-hour emergency services:
Police, Fire, Medic One: 911
Police, Fire, Medic One: 911
Seattle City Light: 206-706-0051
Seattle Public Utilities: 206-386-1800
Street repair/maintenance: 206-386-1218
What is included in the data?
Service Delivery
The service delivery measure tracks how often departments are delivering resident-requested services by a specified time frame. What is reflected in the key measure represents the grouped average across individual departments' service delivery performance measures:
Finance and Administrative Services (FAS):
- Resolve 85% of complaint investigations regarding business licenses, noise, public garages, public parking lots within 20 calendar days and tows within 30 days
Seattle City Light (SCL):
- Repair 90% of street light outages with 14 days
Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections (SDCI):
- 95% of permits first review within their established time frame
Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT):
- Repair 80% of potholes within 3 business days
- 90% of permits met their goal for first review or issuance (in cases where there is no review)
Seattle Fire Department (SFD):
- Arrival of a first responder to EMS incidents within 4 minutes of travel
time, 90% of the time
- Arrival of an engine company to fire suppression incidents within 4
minutes of travel time, 90% of the time
Seattle Police Department (SPD):
- Respond to Priority 1 SPD 911 calls responded to within 7 minutes
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU):
- 90% of graffiti cleaned up within 10 business days from SPU/SDOT structures
- Pick up missed solid waste collections within one business day
- Remove 95% of illegal dumping from public property within 10 business days
- Remove 95% of sharps from the public right of way within 24 hours
- Respond to 90% of priority drainage and wastewater reports within 1 hour
Customer Service
The customer service measure tracks how often departments are responding to initial customer contacts within their target time frame. What is reflected in the key measure represents the grouped average across individual departments' customer service performance measures:
Finance and Administrative Services (FAS):
- Answer 80% of Customer Service Bureau calls within 60 seconds
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU):
- Respond to 80% of Customer Service calls within 180 seconds
- Answer 80% emergency drainage calls within 60 seconds
Seattle Fire Department (SFD):
- Answer 90% of 911 calls within 10 seconds
Seattle Police Department (SPD):
- Answer 90% 911 police calls within 10 seconds, on an hourly basis