General News
24 June, 2024
Residents remain disappointed with council, results from satisfaction survey show
Community satisfaction with the Central Goldfields Shire Council’s performance has dipped, with local responders believing none of the 11 services measured have seen improvement from last year. The Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey...
Community satisfaction with the Central Goldfields Shire Council’s performance has dipped, with local responders believing none of the 11 services measured have seen improvement from last year.
The Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey, coordinated by the Department of Government Services, has conducted an annual survey to collate local opinions on councils since 1998.
A total of 400 residents completed the survey, with results scoring council’s overall performance at 47 out of 100, five points lower than 2023 and its lowest score since 2018 when administrators were introduced following council’s sacking in August, 2017.
According to the survey report, “council’s index score of 47 is significantly lower than both the state-wide and small rural group averages (index scores of 54 and 53 respectively)”.
The report also states that “perceptions of council performance on the core measures of overall performance, value for money and overall council direction have declined significantly this year continuing a downward trend”.
Sealed local roads were council’s lowest rated service, plummeting to a score of 33 with 58 percent of responders calling road condition either poor or very poor, and only three percent answering that roads were very good.
Recent results continue a trend of disappointment with local roads according to the survey, with the index score dropping 17 points since 2021.
Twenty-seven percent of survey responders believe that sealed road maintenance is Central Goldfields’ main area for improvement, while 13 percent ask for more community consultation and nine percent wish to see improvements to how council informs the community.
Central Goldfields Shire Council CEO Lucy Roffey said despite some downswings, there are still positives to take away.
“This year’s community satisfaction survey results are reflective of a state-wide decline in satisfaction with local government,” she said.
“We know our community values face-to-face service, so it was great to see customer service continue to be one of our highest-ranking service areas.
“We were also proud to see the appearance of public areas and waste management continue to rank highly.”
Ms Roffey acknowledged roads can be a contentious issue for local governments and said council is working with State Government in their attempt to improve the issue.
“Similarly to previous years, roads continue to rate poorly. Roads are a common issue among rural councils, particularly due to changes to state and federal government funding and particularly under the rate cap environment,” she said.
“Flood damage in 2022 has also exacerbated this issue for us here in the Central Goldfields.
“Interestingly, in the results, half of the roads that residents expressed were of most concern were State Government owned roads.
“There is an opportunity to lead greater efforts in community education in how roads are funded, including the differences between local and state roads, as well as continuing council’s advocacy for roads funding.”
Ms Roffey said council will take the survey results on board and continue working towards improving the local community.
“The results also show lower satisfaction in residents aged 35 to 49, so there is an opportunity here to find ways to engage with this demographic given that they are also the cohort with the highest contact rate with council,” she said.
“We thank the community for their feedback and remain committed to working hard to deliver continuous improvements across all our service areas.”