Community satisfaction

Every two years, Council conducts a community survey covering:

  • Overall satisfaction with Council
  • Importance of services delivered by Council
  • Community satisfaction with services delivered by Council
  • Feedback on Council communications
  • Feedback on priority services areas for Council funding

The 2023 survey was conducted by Micromex, a specialist market research firm, between 27 February and 2 March.

They surveyed a representative sample of our community.

The key findings from the 2023 survey are:

  • Overall satisfaction is marginally lower at 77% including a statistically significant decline in those who indicated they were very satisfied. 
  • Although environment is still the most valued aspect of living in the area, this has experienced a significant decline since last survey. Location has significantly increased over the same period.
  • Roads, traffic management and bridges remain the highest priority issue and have experienced a significant increase
  • Improved services and infrastructure has also seen a significant increase as a high priority issue, potentially driven by issues associated with floods and COVID.
  • Looking at future resourcing priorities there is no appetite for reduced investment
  • Roads and Bridges scored highest in terms of future resourcing priority.
  • 51% wanted more investment in Financial Management and sustainability.
  • Customer Service is a key priority for community as is communication and engagement.
  • The top three issues in terms of Performance Gap Analysis – expectation vs perceived delivery – include sealed roads, financial management and long-term planning for the LGA.
  • The key drivers of overall satisfaction are financial management (the highest with 14.3%) and provision of Council information to the community (7.3%) 
  • Council's effort to interact with residents through communication and community engagement when combined contributes to over 22% of overall satisfaction.