Zug,31.08.2015

City loses its top ranking to Uetikon am See in national journal's survey

Every year the Swiss national Weltwoche weekly news journal goes to great lengths to work out which is the best municipality in Switzerland to live in. For the past two years the city of Zug has come top, but this year it has come second to Uetikon am See on the shores of Lake Zurich (second photograph).
 
The journal actually looked closely at as many as 921 municipalities in the country with over 2,000 inhabitants. It was in the areas relating to population structure, education and training as well as public safety and crime that Uetikon am See fared better than Zug.
 
In previous years, the Weltwoche journal looked into some 20 aspects relating to life in the municipalities, but this year this number increased to 40. This new approach lent greater weight to aspects such as the quality of life, with matters relating to education, public safety and crime regarded for the first time, economic matters playing more a secondary role this year.
 
Having read the report, Zug’s mayor Dolfi Müller said,  “When one looks at the public safety issue, it is only natural that more rural areas fare better than built-up areas. While one should not give too much importance to this ranking system, it is naturally pleasing to read Zug came in second place. The dimensions of the city are changing but we are still up there with the top municipalities. This is a good sign and shows a certain consistency.”
 
One of the areas where Zug did not fare so well was in the increase in property prices, which, as in some other cities, have gone up by 42% over a three-year period. “This is not so good,” said Müller. “It is simply a fact that, the better a place is, the more sought-after it becomes.” 
 
In previous years as many as six other municipalities in the canton of Zug have made it to Weltwoche’s top ten. For example, in addition to Zug coming first, Steinhausen came third, Risch fourth, Oberägeri sixth, Neuheim seventh and Baar ninth. With the methodology used for this year’s ratings, all these municipalities have not fared so well, though they are still in the top hundred. For example, Cham is now 17th, Risch 18th, Baar 24th, Unterägeri 50th, Neuheim 90th, Oberägeri 98th and Steinhausen 100th. Hünenberg came in 176th position, with Walchwil and Menzingen way behind at 216th and 342nd respectively.
 
Pius Meier, the mayor of Oberägeri took the lower ranking of his municipality stoically, but recognised it was due to the new methodology. What did concern him, however, was the lower ranking it got with regard to education and he is to bring this up this with the council.
 
Meanwhile, over in Baar, mayor Andreas Hotz kept a cool head about Weltwoche’s findings. “It is widely known the municipality has excellent provision for education, not least with the International School and the high reputation it enjoys.” In one category, that relating to tax, Baar actually came top as the municipality where residents pay the least. “Survey or not,” said  Hotz, “the council and the majority of residents know very well how high the quality of life is here.”