The City of Stonnington's 2025 Community Satisfaction Survey results have been released, showing that Council continues to perform above the State average across nearly every service area – with particularly strong results in community facilities, parks and public spaces.
The annual independent survey, commissioned by the Victorian Government and undertaken by JWS Research, captures the perceptions of 400 randomly selected Stonnington residents on the services, infrastructure and leadership provided by Council.
This year, Stonnington's overall performance was rated above the State average and in line with metropolitan councils, reflecting continued community recognition of our investment in core services such as libraries (score: 77), recreational facilities (75), waste management (71) and the appearance of public areas (72).
Chief Executive Officer Dale Dickson PSM said the results provide an important lens into community sentiment and help guide Council's ongoing service delivery.
"We're encouraged by the areas where Stonnington continues to lead, particularly in the spaces that matter most to our residents – libraries, recreational facilities, and the quality of our public areas," Mr Dickson said.
"At the same time, we know there are areas where expectations are high. These results provide a useful benchmark as we continue to focus on listening to our community and delivering better outcomes via innovation and process improvement."
"Relevantly, Stonnington has a low revenue base compared to other Councils, so the result reflects well on the Council organisation, given this reality," Mr Dickson said.
While Council's overall performance score of 60 was slightly down on last year, Stonnington remains well above the State average (53) and comparable to the broader metropolitan group (62). Planning, traffic and parking were among the areas where the community expects more – and Council will use these results, alongside other data and engagement insights, to inform action.
The survey also found high community contact with Council (66%) and continued strong ratings for customer service – especially in person, by phone or email.
The full survey report is now available at stonnington.vic.gov.au/communitysatisfaction.
