Community satisfaction remains high

Published on 28 June 2023

Community satisfaction with Corangamite Shire Council’s overall performance remains significantly higher than Large Rural Shires and State averages.

Results of the annual Community Satisfaction Survey show customer service is Council’s highest performing core measure at 76, which is nine points above the State average and 11 points above the Large Rural Shires average.

Of the 24 service area measures, Corangamite performs significantly higher than the Large Rural group average for councils in 19 services areas, and significantly higher than the State-wide average for council in 18 service areas.

Corangamite’s best performing areas are the appearance of public areas (recreational facilities (73), emergency and disaster management (73), as well as COVID-19 response (72) and art centres and libraries (71).  

The lowest rated areas include unsealed roads (34), sealed local roads (41) and slashing and weed control (45).

Chief Executive Officer David Rae said Corangamite’s performance remained strong despite a slight overall dip from 2022.

“We can take a lot of positives from this year’s results against a broader downward trend across all local governments,” Mr Rae said.

“There have been improvements in waste management, planning and building permits, and tourism development.

“Customer service continues to be our highest performance area which reflects our organisational focus on building strong relationships with our communities,” he said.

Mayor Ruth Gstrein said the annual survey was a valuable tool to see where Council was going well and where there was room to improve.

“It is really important,” she said.

“We do listen to the 400 residents who participate in the survey and we use the results to sharpen our focus on certain areas.

“Maintaining our local roads and advocating for improvements to the arterial roads network continues to be Council’s highest priority.”

Mayor Gstrein thanked Council staff for continuing to deliver high quality services to Corangamite’s communities.

The survey is undertaken by the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions on behalf of all Victorian councils.

A total of 400 interviews were completed during February and March 2023, with minimum quotas of gender within age groups applied during the fieldwork phase.

A full report of the 2023 Community Satisfaction Survey is available here.