Polk County is an interesting place...we all want better roads, better schools, controlled growth...we just don't want to pay more for it, or at least want someone else to foot the bill.

Not really much different from anywhere else, truth be known.

The Polk County Commission paid University of South Florida political science professor Susan McManus $44,000 to conduct a survey of 800 residents from throughout the county to determine what issues and services were most important.

When asked about quality of life, 44 percent said it was the same as five years ago, 30 percent said better, and 12 percent said it was worse.

And the most important issues: Top of the list was growth/new development, followed by public schools/education and traffic/public education (most of these folks must have been driving on I-4 in Polk recently, especially around U.S. 98 in Lakeland!)

Here's an interesting note: When asked what the county spends too much on, 61 percent said they didn't know. Forty-two percent gave the same answer when asked what the county spends too little on.

This information appeared in an article which appeared in Monday's Lakeland Ledger.