Community satisfaction results released

Results from the Annual Community Satisfaction Survey have revealed 72 per cent of survey respondents rated the City of Ballarat’s overall performance as ‘average and above’. 

The full report of the Community Satisfaction Survey results will be published online Friday afternoon with the June Council Meeting Agenda and presented at Wednesday night’s Council Meeting.

The annual survey was conducted by independent survey provider JWS Research.

Perceptions of the City of Ballarat’s performance largely stayed the same as the previous 12 months across most service areas and core measures. 

Top performing areas include customer service, waste management, and consultation and engagement. Sealed local roads were the lowest performing area.  

City of Ballarat Director Corporate Services, John Hausler said the results of the Community Satisfaction Survey were a good guide to areas that need improvement.  

“We have heard what our community has to say through the Community Satisfaction Survey and through other forums and, as a result, have been working hard to improve key service areas such as consultation and engagement, sealed local roads and customer service,” he said.  

In the last year, the City of Ballarat has been taking tangible steps to improve consultation processes, with the launch of the new and improved online MySay consultation platform and adjustments to internal processes.  

Furthermore, the City of Ballarat has allocated $30.5 million in the 2024/25 Budget towards capital road infrastructure to address the condition of roads in the municipality.  

“We have also launched the City of Ballarat’s first Customer Charter in the last year – a document outlining what residents can expect when interacting with the City of Ballarat,” Mr Hausler said.  

“Our efforts to improve Customer Service were recognised with the announcement earlier this year that our Customer Service team took out the national and state Customer Service Award in the Snap Send Solve 2023 Solver of the Year Awards.”  

This is the third consecutive year the City of Ballarat has contracted JWS Research to undertake the Community Satisfaction Survey. The Community Satisfaction Survey is how the City of Ballarat meets its requirement under legislation to seek community feedback.

The full survey results of the 2024 Community Satisfaction Survey can be read in the Agenda for the upcoming 26 June Council Meeting, which will be published on the City of Ballarat website on Friday 21 June.