Greater Shepparton City Council has released the 2022-23 Community Satisfaction Survey results.
Residents had the opportunity to share their views about council’s performance through the quarterly survey conducted by Thinkfield.
Most results remained consistent with last year, scoring within two points of the 2021-22 survey.
Biggest differences from last year
Increases
Property rates and fees: Property rates fairness score increased from 48 to 50.
Regulatory services: Overall regulatory services moved from 65 to 67.
Building control: The score for building control increased from 51 to 55.
Regularity services: Overall regularity services increased from 61 to 63.
Decreases:
Overall services and facilities: The overall services and facilities score decreased from 64 to 61.
Overall roads and infrastructure: The score for overall roads, footpaths and cycleways decreased from 58 to 52.
Waste services: Overall waste services decreased from 78 to 75.
Family and child care services: Overall family and child care services fell from 78 to 75.
Aged and disability care services: The score for overall aged and disability care services decreased from 68 to 65.
The overall performance scored 63, just one point below last year.
The overall direction score of 60 is the third-highest since the survey’s inception.
Council director of corporate services Chris Teitzel said it was great to see positive results over the past 12 months, especially compared to other councils across the state.
“Victorian councils have reported the lowest Community Satisfaction Survey results in 10 years, while Greater Shepparton’s have been relatively stable,” he said.
He said the results positioned council favourably across the state, considering the challenging year, including the October 2022 flood event, which significantly impacted local services and facilities.
“We do acknowledge, however, how challenging the past year has been for the community, especially during the October 2022 flood event,” he said.
“Council’s services and facilities suffered significantly during this time, especially the state of local roads, and this was reflected in the survey results.”
The condition of sealed local roads saw a significant decrease of 11 points, to a level that hasn’t been seen since 2017.
While disappointing, Mr Teitzel said this was expected due to the widespread flooding and the devastating impact it caused.
The above-average scores in advocacy, community consultation, parks, reserves and the library were noteworthy, council said.
However, a decrease of six points in weekly household rubbish collection was noted, attributed to frequency changes in Kialla and Tatura.
“We understand this decrease can be attributed to the frequency changes and we appreciate that it takes time for people to adjust their habits,” Mr Teitzel said.
“Council is continuing to work through these changes and is assisting residents through ongoing education and support.
“It is good for us to see where the community would like to see improvements, as this helps shape our future direction.”
The survey employed computer-assisted telephone interviewing to gather opinions from adults in Greater Shepparton.
Additionally, face-to-face consultations were carried out in the Shepparton CBD.
In total, 800 residents participated in providing feedback over the course of a year.