11 July 2017
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Local Government NZ Satisfaction Survey
Inquiry
I'm sure the RLC will be aware of the recent LGNZ national survey released recently.
While the results were better than the 2014 survey, they don't make for great reading, as Laurence Yule stated in the report.
Here are the links to the 2014 and 2017 surveys for your reference.
http://www.lgnz.co.nz/assets/Uploads/44474-LGNZ-Reputation-Report-2017-FINAL.pdf
http://www.lgnz.co.nz/assets/In-background/LGNZ-2015-Survey-Report-FINAL2.pdf
Could you please answer the following questions.
FYI. The story will include the national figures across the board.
There are no local figures.
- Why does RLC think councils reputations do not rate very well?
- What can be done to improve this?
- Do you think the general public knows enough about what local councils actually do?
- Infrastructure is very important to both the public and businesses, does RLC spend enough on this?
- Overall satisfaction with councils is low, at 17% for the public and is -6% for businesses. Why do you think this is so low?
- However, results for the performance and leadership of councils in the past three years is good. Just 14% of public and 19% of businesses say performance and leadership has got worse.
- Why does RLC think businesses and the public view council and their operations so differently?
Response
Acting Chief Executive Craig Tiriana:
During the past few years Rotorua Lakes Council has focused on making improvements and our impression has been that we've made headway. We acknowledge there's always room for further improvement but won't know how the national LGNZ survey relates to us specifically until we receive and analyse our own annual NRB satisfaction survey.
There possibly is a lack of understanding of the breadth of council work and services and we will keep looking for ways to improve that understanding .
Wherever possible we are working alongside communities, with local agencies and organisations, business sector groups like the Chamber of Commerce and inner city retailers, getting direct input and involvement in projects, strategies and portfolio work.
We are speaking with people on their own turf during consultation processes like the 2030 Vision refresh and spatial plan development and working alongside the community and Te Tatau o Te Arawa boards.
Infrastructure is obviously important and every year staff and elected members have to balance the need to maintain and upgrade assets with financial sustainability and affordability.
We can only speculate about the reasons for ratings of local government. Locally, our customer centre deals with thousands of inquiries per month (over 9000 calls alone) and these are often related to regulatory matters so that may provide some insight into general public perceptions. Reasons for business sector ratings is a question for them but we work with anyone or any group keen to work constructively with Council.
From last year's Rotorua Lakes Council NRB survey:
- Last year 81% of people surveyed rated council staff performance acceptable or better (10% had no opinion and 8% rated it not very good or poor).
- Most of 22 specified council services and facilities received a "very/fairly satisfied" rating from 70%.
- Performance of elected members was rated as acceptable or better by 71% (8% had no opinion and 21% thought it was not very good or poor).
- 49% approved or strongly approved of council decisions and actions and 64% were fairly or very satisfied with how rates are spent.
- Overall, those who were dissatisfied were mainly 50+ and there was a drop in satisfaction in services linked to projects that were being debated by the community.