Community Satisfaction Survey results released

The 2023 Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey results have been released, with waste management and customer service coming out on top as the City of Casey's highest performing service areas.

The survey is coordinated each year by the Department of Government Services on behalf of Victorian Councils to gain insights into the community's views across a range of services and performance measures. Independent market research agency, JWS Research, undertook 800 phone interviews with a representative sample of the Casey community.

Whilst Council's performance ratings are still largely in line with the Interface group average in almost all service areas, there has been a decline from last year's results.

Customer service and waste management were our top performers, both receiving an index score of 67, which is above or on par with the state averages.

Council's lowest performing service areas related to sealed local roads and lobbying, with our score for the appearance of public areas also declining since 2022.

City of Casey Chair of Administrators, Noelene Duff PSM said the survey was an ongoing resource to assess the community's feelings in relation to Council services and programs and what areas need improvement.

"We acknowledge that the scores indicate a decline in satisfaction across some of our key service areas. We're already implementing measures designed to drive improvements and ensure we're delivering services to the standards expected by Council and the community.

"The decline in scores was a trend seen across both the state-wide and Interface averages for all measures.

"This was particularly evident in relation to sealed local roads, which can largely be attributed to three consecutive years of La Nina weather patterns and the unprecedented soaking rains that contribute to accelerated road pavement deterioration. We'll continue to invest in renewing and resealing our local road network and meet the standards set out in our Road Management Plan.

"We recently awarded four new contracts to deliver mowing services for our open spaces under a new arrangement designed to achieve better maintenance standards. We're confident this will improve performance in maintaining our public areas and in turn, enhance community satisfaction.

"While our score relating to lobbying has declined, we want to assure residents we remain committed to advocating to other levels of government to invest in Casey to help us keep up with growing demands for infrastructure, particularly in roads and transport.

"Our Connecting Casey advocacy campaign undertaken in 2022 was more subtle and nuanced than previous election approaches. It used evidence-based content designed to engage audiences and influence stakeholders, focusing less on public and political agitation and more on building strong, lasting relationships and representing the community. In the lead up to the State Election, more than $1.3 billion in local election commitments were made by both parties, a reflection of our successful advocacy efforts.

"We are committed to building and improving all areas of Council's services and we will use the community feedback provided in this survey to review our services and consider where improvements can be made."

The state-wide results are available on the Local Government Victoria website.

Summary of results