Surprise sees a 5% increase in residents as part-time residents move back to the valley area for the winter according to Larry Subervi, Surprise battalion chief and spokesperson for the fire departments. The increase in vehicle traffic and people in the area creates a higher demand for city officials.

“Number of factors: winter cold and flu season. We get more calls as more people get sick,” Subervi said. “Nothing our systems can’t handle.” 

Most of the increase in calls are seen in communities where a large portion of the residents are over the age of 55, such as Happy Trails, Great Eagle and Sun City West, according to Subervi. There is also a bigger increase in calls to respond to residents in RV parks.

“The department makes sure there is a full staff and communication team built into our system during tours, we can rotate them out,” Subervi said.

The Surprise fire departments ensure the closest truck on duty responds, even if it isn’t their jurisdiction. According to the Safe and Healthy Community website, the response time for most of the departments are between 5 to 10 minutes.  

Subrevi credited response times to the city council for budget increases and support. 

“(We are) lucky to have a city council with a lot of vision,” said Subrevi.

The Surprise Public Works department often sees an increase in service requests as more people travel on roads and return to their part-time homes after spending the summer months elsewhere. 

“We see an increase in roadway issues like potholes and sidewalk issues; especially around the retirement communities,” said Gustavo Garcia, Public Works Streets Superintendent.

There is roughly a 30% increase in vehicle traffic during winter, according to Garcia.

“People are in bad moods because driving takes twice as long, which sucks,” said Kiersten Baker, a full-time resident. “This is the time of year people should be happier because it’s Christmas and Thanksgiving.”

Public works follow non-emergency protocols even with the increase in population for service requests. Once a request is received the city will prioritize the need for a response and send a streets representative to look or fulfill the request. 

If there is an emergency water leak, pot hole or other issue that task takes priority and will be taken care of before sidewalk and slurry seal requests.

“I don’t think we do anything extra other than try to respond in a timely manner,” Garcia said.

According to the Canada Arizona Business Council, winter residents bring in $1.4 billion dollars to the Phoenix economy in 2022. A part time resident was defined by annuity.org as a person who stays in a location longer than 183 days. 

“I’m sure the businesses make more money, so that's good. One downfall is that Surprise feels like it doubles in size, but not in the population” Baker said. “There’s more people living there but the number of people working stays the same.”

With an increase in residents during the winter months, the number of traffic and emergency calls escalates during the winter months, public service departments hope to fulfill calls and requests in a timely manner.