2024 Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey results

The 2024 Victorian Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey (LGCSS) results have been released for every Victorian council, showing a four-point decline to 46 in overall community perception of Yarra Ranges Council.

The survey, which is coordinated by the state government’s Department of Government Services, is designed to measure community perception of a range of Council services, facilities and activities.  

The results come from 500 computer assisted telephone surveys which took place between January and March 2024 and asked for people’s experiences and perceptions of Yarra Ranges Council. 

Yarra Ranges comprises both urban centres and regional townships with perception scores varying across the municipality.  Urban areas recorded stronger results (in line with results from other councils) however the results were notably lower in our Hills and Valley communities.

Our lowest scoring services of community perception were unsealed roads, planning and building permits and sealed roads whilst our top performing areas were arts centres and libraries, recreational facilities, appearance of public areas and customer service. Services such as emergency management, environmental sustainability and informing our community have held steady whilst family support services increased by two points. The largest drop in community perception over the past year was in waste management, drainage and roads.

Overall, the perception of Yarra Ranges Council is at its lowest for a decade which follows a pattern of decline with all councils state-wide (down two points to an average of 54 points).

CEO Tammi Rose said we are disappointed in this year’s LGCSS results and are sorry we are not hitting the mark with our community.

“This year’s survey results present a noticeable decline in waste management, sealed local roads and planning and building services, ultimately impacting overall satisfaction.  These are areas we have been hearing from the community on and have worked to improve our service offering.

“We will continue to work hard to meet the expectations for those who live and work in Yarra Ranges.  Some areas of focus include increased investment in local infrastructure to improve road maintenance, drainage and footpaths, creating more opportunities for community to connect face-to-face with Council, improving our response times to community requests and introducing new ways to help make the planning process easier to navigate.

“It’s not everything but it’s a start.  We are steadfast in our commitment to address these results and will continue to analyse and implement changes in the hope to improve the way our community experience our organisation," said Tammi Rose.

The full report from the 2024 Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey results is on Council's website.