Ararat Rural City Council has risen in the community's estimation according to a survey's recent findings.
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The 2021 Annual Community Satisfaction Survey is conducted by the independent research group, JWS Research in councils across Victoria.
Researchers randomly selected and interviewed households on a range of matters regarding to council during February and March 2021.
The survey covers 21 different "services", such as "customer service", "waste management", and "elderly support services".
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From 2020 to 2021 community satisfaction improved with 17 of these 21 services, with two of the services only being introduced for 2021.
Council's progress from its first Community Satisfaction Survey's in 2018 is even more pronounced. Most notably, 65 per cent of respondants said they were satisfied with council's overall direction in 2021, as opposed to 29 per cent in 2018.
Councillor's received a report on the survey at their meeting on Tuesday, June 15.
At the meeting Ararat Rural City Council chief executive officer Dr Tim Harrison said he was pleased with the progress council had made but was eager to avoid stagnation.
"In 2021 we performed better than the state-wide average in 19 of the 21 measures and worse in two," he said.
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"I think that is a pretty healthy performance from council at this point in time, but of course we can never perform well enough and there's still plenty of room to improve."
The only service community satisfaction declined in was "art centres and libraries", with community satisfaction in this service falling from 78 to 74 per cent.
Community satisfaction also remained unchanged with regards to "local streets & footpaths".
The category council received its highest score for was "COVID-19 response", with 78 per cent of respondents satisfied with council's reaction to the pandemic.
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The category council rated lowest in was "unsealed roads". Only 50 per cent of respondents were satisfied with this service, albeit six per cent more than in 2020.
Additionally, only 59 per cent of respondents stated they were satisfied with sealed roads.
Council's Draft 2021/22 Budget suggests it is in agreeance the roads need improving, as more than $12 million is allocated to upgrading roads.
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