13 June 2012

Council rated highly by Rotorua residents, says new National Research Bureau survey

Results of an independent survey carried out by the National Research Bureau (NRB) reveal Rotorua residents rate most local council services very highly.

An advance summary of the results of NRB’s annual survey show results from interviews with a random sampling of 400 residents who were asked to rate council services and the work of the elected council and staff.

Chief executive Peter Guerin said the survey featured high levels of satisfaction for almost all council services, with 19 out of 22 services rated higher than last year.

“Some of our services received outstanding endorsement from residents, with our sewerage system achieving an extraordinary 98% satisfaction rating, and appearance and cleanliness of the city centre, water supply, and the city’s beautification and landscaping all receiving 97% satisfaction.

“Other services with very high satisfaction levels were rubbish collection (95% satisfaction), parks, reserves and playgrounds (93%), stormwater drainage (92%), visitor promotion (89%), library (87%), sports fields (86%), event promotion (86%), museum (84%), noise control (83%), footpaths (83%), cycling facilities (82%) and roads (81%).

Mr Guerin said the services with the lowest satisfaction levels were parking (70% satisfied), promotion for work and investment (67%) and public toilets (56%).

“While it’s pleasing to see that overall the majority of people were still satisfied even with these lower rated services, each has been either very recently addressed or signalled for special attention in our draft Long-term Plan. We’re therefore expecting to see higher levels of satisfaction for each of these areas in the future.

The report shows that 84% of residents rate the performance of the mayor and councillors as acceptable and there is an 88% acceptable rating for the performance of council staff.

Seventy eight per cent of those surveyed were satisfied with the way rates are spent (up 8% on last year) and 91% satisfied with the service they had received when making contact with the council (up 6%).

Sixty four per cent said the council provided residents with sufficient information (up 10%) and 40% were satisfied with the way council involves the public in its decisions (23% not satisfied). Eighty per cent also said the public had been able to influence council decisions to some extent.

Mr Guerin said one area of disappointment was a reduction in the number of people prepared for a major emergency. He said 49% of those surveyed had household emergency kits which was down from 53% last year. The percentage of people with household emergency plans was 48%, similar to last year but still less than half the population.

“People shouldn’t forget what happened in Christchurch and I would urge all Rotorua residents to take every possible measure to ensure you are as prepared as possible. Our chances or surviving a major emergency event will be improved considerably by good preparation.”

The NRB survey results show that 61% of residents think community spirit is good in Rotorua and 55% believe the diverse population makes the district a better place to live. Thirty eight per cent think the council is doing enough to promote sustainability while 32% do not and 33% are not sure.

The survey also asked residents of their impressions of council decisions and actions over the last 12 months, with 66% approving of the decisions and actions, up 12% on last year’s survey.

Mr Guerin said the NRB survey gave an essential independent snapshot in time of how well the council was doing in the eyes of its residents.

“It’s very useful for identifying the areas where we are clearly doing a good job as well for identifying those services that we need to devote more attention to.

Overall it’s a very pleasing result for the mayor and councillors, management and staff of RDC, and while it shows that the community thinks we are delivering pretty good services, we are committed to building on this in the future and lifting service quality even higher wherever we can.”

ENDS

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