Harnett County launched a community survey in December 2025 to gain feedback from residents regarding the strengths, challenges, and priorities. This was the first comprehensive survey that the County has conducted. The survey results will help to guide future planning, decision-making, and service improvements.

Harnett County is inviting residents to attend an upcoming Citizen Information Session meeting on Monday, March 23, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. to review and discuss survey results in more detail. This meeting will give community members an opportunity to learn more about the findings, ask questions, and share additional feedback. The meeting will take place at the Resource Center and Library, training room 103 A at 455 McKinney Parkway, Lillington.

The survey was conducted by a third-party vendor, ETC Institute, who mailed over 500 random surveys to homes within each of the five districts. Over 500 of those random households responded and over 140 residents completed the survey online by utilizing the survey link.

“We wanted to hear directly from the people we serve. This survey gives us a clearer picture of what’s working well in Harnett County and where we can continue to improve,” said Mike Morrow, Assistant County Manager.

ETC will present the results of the survey to the Board of Commissioners on March 10, 2026. Following that meeting we will host the public meeting on March 23, 2026 to go over the results with our community.

“I am very pleased with the number of responses that we received. As this is the first comprehensive survey we have conducted, we will now have baseline data to compare with future surveys,” said Desiree Patrick, Communications & Marketing Director. “Mike Morrow and I worked extremely hard to develop the survey questions, meet with ETC, and pushing to receive strong participation from our community.”

Some of the key findings of the survey include:

• Perception of Harnett County as a place to live: 68% of residents rated Harnett as an excellent or good place to live and 56% rated Harnett as an excellent or good place to retire.
• Core County Services: The top three rated county services included the library 77% very satisfied or satisfied, emergency medical services (EMS) 76% very satisfied or satisfied, and emergency 911 services 74% very satisfied or satisfied.
• Communications: 67% of respondents stated they receive information about the county on social media accounts and 53% utilize the Harnett County website to obtain County information.

Please join us for our meeting and share the meeting details with others who may be interested as well.