Surf Coast Shire Council has again bettered the state average for overall performance in the Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey.
The municipality's overall 2019 rating of 62 matches last year's result. It is above the statewide score of 60 and the average of 56 for similar-sized large rural councils in Victoria.
Coordinated by the Victorian Government, the annual Community Satisfaction Survey consists of a random phone survey to 600 resident and non-resident ratepayers. It was completed between February and March 2019.
Compared to 2018 results, Council improved or matched the result in the core measures of Overall Performance, Community Consultation, Making Community Decisions, Sealed Local Roads and Customer Service.
Surf Coast Shire Council Mayor Rose Hodge was pleased with the result, and highlighted the significant improvement in the customer service rating
"The survey found an eight-point increase in customer service from last year, which is quite a jump," Cr Hodge said.
"We've had a strong focus to improve our customers' experience and other initiatives such as our use of technology. Ultimately we want Council to be easy to access and for us to provide a timely response, so it's encouraging to see through the survey that our community members have noticed improvement."
The 2019 customer service survey score is 77 and is clearly ahead of the statewide and large rural council average scores. Scores are measured out of 100 and indexed to take into account both performance and how important a given measure is to the survey respondent.
Surf Coast Shire Council's top three performing areas were:
- Appearance of public areas 75
- Emergency and disaster management 72
- Community and cultural activities 72
Its top three areas for improvement were:
- Planning for population growth 48
- Maintenance of unsealed roads 47
- Planning and building permits 47
"We expect population growth to be an area of concern, given the Surf Coast is one of the fastest growing municipalities in the state," Cr Hodge said. "We are continually working on the challenges that growth presents, and we are committed to retaining the character of our towns."
Cr Hodge said the survey was an opportunity to identify ways to provide improved services.
"We're preparing to roll out our e-planning portal which will enable customers to lodge and manage their planning applications and submissions online," she said. "It's a great example of supporting our customers by enabling access to our planning process when it best suits their needs."
The Road Management Plan outlines how Council inspects, maintains and repairs public roads for which it is responsible. We welcome the lodgement of customer requests relating to our roads or anything people wish to see addressed."
Council is encouraging customer requests anytime online at www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au
