COMMUNITY satisfaction with Swan Hill Rural City Council has fallen since last year, according to the results of the latest survey.
Council scored an overall performance rating of 53 out of 100, which was three points lower than in 2021, and lower than both the Victorian average of 59 and the average of similar large rural councils (55).
The value for money score also fell four points to 44, and overall council direction dropped eight points to 44. On the other hand, satisfaction with customer service increased one point to 67. The best scores in 14 other categories were awarded for the appearance of public areas (73) and waste management (69) and the worst for unsealed roads (39).
Swan hill Mayor Bill Moar said it was common for the scores to go up and down since they were based on a phone survey of 400 people, which was just 2 per cent of the shire’s population.
“We had some issues with former chief executive John McLinden leaving, and any negative sentiment always comes through in surveys,” he said.
“Other councils are not that much different. We look at those things, define the areas where we think we can do better, and if we can, we will.”
In general, people who were aged 65 or more gave council the highest scores and those aged 18-34 gave the lowest.
In his report, Corporate Services director Bhan Pratap said council would review its Community Engagement Strategy, build constructive relationships with special interest groups, and review the use and moderation of social media. Cr Moar said this reflected the shift in the way communities engaged with local government away from traditional forms of media.
“We use all those channels as best we can,” he said.
“Under the new Local Government Act, we’re in a digital democracy now. It’s not about what councillors think, everything has to go back to the people for reference and comment we’re doing that to share the good news.”
Cr Moar said it wasn’t possible to please everybody all the time, and some people wanted to criticise council “no matter what we do”.
“there’s nothing we can do about that,” he said.
“We’ve got to be positive and move forward, and address all the issues that make this a great place to live and just really enhance the good things in the town.”
