Community satisfaction falls

800 residents had their say on council performance in this years community satisfaction survey.

By Liam McNally

Community satisfaction is down for almost all key metrics in Melton, but remains close to Melbourne’s averages for the year.

Melton council has released the Annual Community Satisfaction Survey Findings Report by Metropolis Research for July 2022.

Now in its eighth year, the survey asked 800 residents for their satisfaction levels on a broad range of council services, facilities and aspects of governance and leadership.

Satisfaction with the overall performance of Melton City Council decreased 3.9 per cent this year to 6.54 out of 10, which was slightly lower than the metropolitan Melbourne average of 6.6 and marginally higher than the western region councils’ 6.46 average satisfaction.

According to the report, overall satisfaction with the City of Melton remains in the “good” range,

One-third of respondents were “very satisfied” with Melton council’s overall performance while 11.9 per cent were dissatisfied.

The key issues highlighted by survey respondents in the municipality were traffic management, road maintenance and repairs, safety, policing, crime, parks, gardens and open spaces.

The services with the highest levels of satisfaction this year were regular garbage collection, regular recycling, library services, green waste collection, hard rubbish collection, community centres, neighbourhood houses, sports grounds and associated facilities.

Melton mayor Goran Kesic said the council welcomed the results of the 2022 Community Satisfaction Survey.

“This survey is a great way for council to understand how people feel about the broad range of services and facilities that we provide,” he said.

“It also reveals levels of satisfaction and things that are important to our community.

“We always strive for the highest performance and use the results to help us plan for the future needs of our community.

“I am pleased to see satisfaction with garbage collection and regular recycling rated at an excellent level, alongside our library services.”

Cr Kesic said the survey results also highlighted the importance of traffic and road-related issues for Melton.

“Transport was again a key issue for our community and it highlights the importance of council’s continued advocacy in these areas,” he said.

“We are calling on all parties to fund a series of essential road upgrades to ensure an efficient and safe road network via the Fix Our Roads campaign.”

Details: www.fixourroads.com.au