Taverner Research Group surveyed 300 residents randomly selected from across the local government area, asking questions about council’s performance, services and priorities.
Sixteen per cent of those surveyed said they were dissatisfied, with the overall satisfaction average score sitting at 3.38 out of five.
That score, while slightly lower than 2019’s result, has MRC sitting above the average satisfaction score recorded for regional NSW councils in Taverner Research Group’s benchmark database.
Residents reported the highest levels of satisfaction with waste management and public amenities services, while development application processes, development information and road conditions were rated the lowest.
In moving a motion to receive and note the results of the survey at MRC’s August 25 meeting, Cr Gen Campbell said it wasn’t surprising that road conditions were one of the biggest sources of dissatisfaction.
“Given the amount of roads in this (LGA), I think we do pretty well actually,” Cr Campbell said.
“We seem to fix them pretty much (as) soon as complaints go in.
“There’s still a lot to be done, and we only need to look out the front (of the MRC’s Moama office) to see (that), so it’s really not a big surprise what our lower rated services are.”
In relation the lowest rated services, Mayor John Harvie said external factors, such as reduced federal financial assistance grants for local government, sometimes influenced council’s ability to address them.
“Suffice to say, the systems that people find fairly difficult to navigate (with development applications) are not council systems, they’re state systems, state environmental planning policies and the like,” Cr Harvie said.
“Even the planning portal can be quite difficult for people to navigate.
“(I think) our team have developed ‘how to’ documents (with) frequently asked questions for most of those.
“Perhaps we have to find a way of letting people know that they’re available.”
MRC chief executive Stacy Williams said the survey was long overdue.
“We haven’t had (a survey) since 2019,” Ms Williams said.
“This has probably reset a baseline for us, and we’ll continue to deliver it every two years.”
The full results of the community satisfaction survey can be found at tinyurl.com/mus8cye5
