Dallas residents are the least satisfied they've been in almost a decade, according to a new community survey.

But the ratings are still high, and the survey shows that Dallas continues to fare better among its residents than an average of other cities -- which also saw satisfaction decreases -- across the country.

Dallas Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Reich said the community survey, conducted by ETC Institute, is used as a gauge by city officials to make decisions about priorities.

In past years, the survey has also been used to tout successes. When the ratings climbed in 2016, then-City Manager A.C. Gonzalez said the numbers were evidence that his tenure was moving the city forward. The 2018 ratings are the first since Gonzalez left and City Manager T.C. Broadnax shook up City Hall and tried to revamp some city services.

Reich said despite the falling ratings, the questionnaire is a "perception survey" and a snapshot.

"We're always going to see changes in public opinion based on whatever may have been going on at the time of the survey," Reich said. "But what we see over time is that largely, the city of Dallas has stayed consistent in that we're better than other large cities in terms of satisfaction."

The seven-page survey was mailed to 1,442 random residents across the city. The margin of error was 2.6 percent and at least 100 respondents each came from all 14 council districts.

Here's the good, the bad and the ugly from the survey results.

The Good

Most ratings are still high: Overall, 72 percent of respondents generally felt the quality of life is excellent or good in Dallas. Only 4 percent said the quality of life was "poor." The survey found that 84 percent felt Dallas was a good or excellent place to work and do business, and 80 percent said the city is a good place to live.

Love Field, Dallas Fire-Rescue, libraries, arts and culture, sewer services and solid waste services all scored well. Maintenance and repair scored the worst -- but that's why city officials and voters approved a $1.05 billion bond package in November.

Mayor Mike Rawlings said he wasn't at all surprised to hear that maintenance was seen as a major problem in the survey.

"We've kicked the street can down the road, and we're seeing that for the first time," Rawlings said.

Feeling good about pools and trails: Satisfaction with walking trails -- such as the Santa Fe Trail and the Katy Trail -- spiked to 69 percent in the 2018 survey after hovering around 60 percent for years. Outdoor swimming facilities also reached the highest ratings since 2013.

The city has more where that came from; the park department has bond money to help connect the trails and build more aquatics facilities.

Job growth: The percentage of respondents who believe the city's job growth is too slow fell to half of what it was in 2011. That adds up because the unemployment rate is just 3.7 percent in the Dallas metro area. But the feeling about slow job growth remains stronger in some parts of southern Dallas.

The Bad

Growing pains: This one could almost go either way. Dallas' boom has been seen as inherently good and a sign of demand for a good quality of life. But the percentage of respondents who feel the city is growing "too fast" has continued to climb over the last five years and hit 60 percent this year.

Transportation: Transportation took a big dip from previous years' surveys. Residents rated ease of travel in cars, buses and trains virtually the same -- and it's all been falling over the years. The ease of walking went down the most; only 32 percent of residents thought it was easy to do. Even the perception of traffic enforcement -- a public safety measure -- decreased. That, particularly, bothered council members. Mark Clayton joked that it was nearly impossible to get ticketed in Dallas.

But police are trying to recruit more officers, and half of the bond package is devoted to streets. That includes bike lanes, improved sidewalks and street resurfacing. The city now has a transportation director. And Dallas Area Rapid Transit also has plans to add a downtown subway, a commuter rail that will run through part of northern Dallas and a streetcar that will run through downtown.

Going the wrong way: In 2013, the city survey reported that 54 percent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the city's direction. That fell to 43 percent this year. And only 33 percent of residents said they get good or excellent value for their tax dollars. That's a 12-point dip from the 2016 survey.

Dallas residents pay taxes to county government, school districts and other entities, too, so property taxes are not all on City Hall.

But satisfaction with city services in many categories -- even some of the ones that still scored well this year, such as emergency medical services -- dropped since 2016. Residents have paid bigger tax bills in recent years because of rising property values. In the meantime, they've seen police and firefighters quit, homelessness increase and roads worsen. Satisfaction with code enforcement, which was of major importance for respondents, decreased as well.

One silver lining, though: Dallas still scored higher in the survey in the quality of its services than the federal and state governments.

The Ugly

Homelessness: The number of people living on the streets in Dallas and Collin County jumped by 23 percent this year, according to a recent annual homelessness census.

The city has struggled with its response in recent years. An audit late last year also found that disputes between service providers, software troubles and management issues exacerbated the problems.

The trust factor: The survey showed a six-point decrease in the

percentage of residents who agreed or strongly agreed that city employees were ethical in their dealings. But the rating was already low.

Response times and safety after dark: Some 42 percent of respondents rated the police response as good or excellent -- a reflection of the slowing police response in recent years as the department has struggled to keep officers and recruit new ones.

And while concerns over crime didn't move much overall and people feel generally safe during the day time, residents feel less safe than in years past going out in the city's parks and downtown area once the sun goes down.