Community Satisfaction Survey results released

Published on 20 June 2016

Mildura Rural City Council’s most recent Community Satisfaction Survey results have been released as part of this month’s Ordinary Council Agenda.

The two annual surveys, one completed by Local Government Victoria and the other by Council, aim to give Councillors and staff a better understanding of what the community see as important and where improvements can be made.

In total almost 800 residents completed one or both of the surveys, which were conducted by independent research companies.

Council’s Community Satisfaction Survey gave residents the opportunity to relay their perceptions of 73 Council services while the Local Government Victoria survey focuses on seven core measures – Overall Performance, Community Consultation, Advocacy, Making Community Decisions, Sealed Local Roads, Customer Service and Overall Council Direction.

Mildura Rural City Council CEO Gerard José said while the surveys were different, some similar themes could be seen.

“While some of our scores had decreased slightly in the Local Government Victoria survey, it was pleasing to see our results were very similar to or above other regional Councils and the statewide results,” Mr José explained.  “We were above the state average in terms of Customer Service and Community Consultation which was very good to see.

“Our Council survey report relates more directly to our specific services and infrastructure and also looks at the difference between how important people think a service is and how we’re performing in providing that service.”

While not all services are included in the survey, results showed increased satisfaction in a number of areas including the Riverfront development, garbage collection services, Council’s newsletters, website and publications and with festivals and events.  Staff effectiveness and courtesy also saw an increase.   As in previous years, libraries, immunisation programs, ovals, sporting grounds, swimming pools and arts and cultural facilities all ranked highly in terms of community satisfaction.

“One area that saw an increase was the percentage of people who feel safe in our community with 54% of people saying they feel safe or very safe, an increase of 8% from 2014,” Mr José said.

“There’s a real mix of results and it’s still indicative of where we need to work harder to improve the public’s understanding of what we’re doing and more importantly, the decision making process behind what we do.

“Interestingly, results from our Council Community Satisfaction Survey showed our younger residents are most satisfied with Council while men aged 65+ are the least satisfied with the services they receive.”

“One area we will look at is where performance in delivering service has stayed relatively steady, but the importance the community places on that service has increased.  We need to look at why those services are growing in importance and see if we are able to meet the increased expectations that go along with that.

‘”We will certainly take these results on board,” said Mr José. “It’s important we keep touch with what our community rates as high on their priority lists.”

The results will be presented at this week’s Ordinary Council meeting and will then be available on Council’s website at www.mildura.vic.gov.au

ENDS

Media enquiries
Angela Umback
p) (03) 5018 8689
e) angela.umback@mildura.vic.gov.au