Steamboat Springs — City and county residents who received a community survey from the city of Steamboat Springs have until May 25 to return them, but city officials hope to start getting more of them back sooner than that.

As of May 1, the city had gotten back 333 of the 3,000 surveys it randomly sent out to households in the city limits and within the boundaries of the Steamboat Springs Rural Area Fire Protection District.

City officials want to get several hundred more of the surveys back in the coming weeks so that the results can be deemed statistically significant.

“The goal would be to have people mail them by next Friday,” said Winnie DelliQuadri, assistant to City Manager Deb Hinsvark.

The survey gives community members a chance to grade the quality of city services and let the Steamboat Springs City Council know what the city’s funding priorities should be in the coming years.

The survey can also be taken online.

A large majority of the surveys that have been filled out so far have been filled out on paper.

The city mailed out surveys to 2,000 households in the city limits and to 500 second homeowners who don’t reside in the city full-time. Surveys also were sent to 500 households in Routt County that lie in the boundaries of the Steamboat Springs Rural Fire Protection District.

DelliQuadri said it is the city’s goal to get back a minimum of 800 to 1,000 surveys.

That type of response would likely make the results of the survey statistically significant.

“The more surveys we get within each group, the smaller the margin of error for that data set,” DelliQuadri said.

The results of the survey will be presented to the City Council in June.

To reach Scott Franz, call 970-871-4210, email scottfranz@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @ScottFranz10