Community satisfaction with council on the rise

GREATER Shepparton City Council has released the results of the Community Satisfaction Survey 2017/2018 showing an increase in overall satisfaction with Council compared to previous years.

Within the last 12 months Greater Shepparton City Council has seen an average of an eight point increase in performance on all of core measures including overall performance, community consultation, advocacy, making community decisions, customer service, sealed local roads and overall council direction. The index scores are out of 100.

Greater Shepparton City Council Director Corporate Services, Chris Teitzel said the results of the survey are very pleasing but also pinpoint some areas for further improvement.

“The most impressive result is an increase in Overall Council Direction of 20 points in two years,” he said. “We have also seen an increase of 11 points in two years in Customer Service and 13 points in two years in Overall Performance,” Mr Tietzel said.

“The increase in Sealed Local Roads on 15 points since last year is also logical. This time last year residents were dealing with the inconvenience of three major roadwork projects at once, with Welsford Street, Old Dookie Road and Verney Road all being upgraded.

“I think we are seeing a more accurate picture of community sentiment with this survey. Previous years’ surveys interviewed a total of 400 residents once a year but moving to quarterly surveys and interviewing more residents has provided a much more realistic result.

“We will continue to survey residents quarterly and will increase the number of surveys in the 2018/2019 year to 800 (200 each quarter) instead of 500. We will also release the results quarterly so that councillors and the community can see how we are tracking.”