By Rowan Forster
The state of Cardinia Shire’s unsealed roads, concerns over population growth and poor community decisions are the biggest grievances shared by ratepayers.
Results from the 2018 Community Satisfaction Survey released on Wednesday revealed feedback on council’s performance remains consistent with the state’s benchmark.
While Cardinia Shire’s waste management well exceeded Victorian council averages, it floundered in relation to road maintenance.
The council received an index score of just 44 out of 100 for the condition of unsealed roads across the shire.
Of the 400 ratepayers surveyed, more than 40 per cent described the roads as either “poor or very poor”.
JWS Research, the body that commissioned the report, said Cardinia Shire was performing “poorly” in this area.
However, overall performance was lauded by participants, with 204 of the 400 surveyed describing Cardinia Shire’s results in the last year as “good or very good”.
Only 48 people described Cardinia Shire’s overall results as “poor or very poor”.
Waste management remains the council’s strongest area of expertise, ousting neighbouring municipalities.
Satisfaction by those residing in the shire’s growth corridor remained significantly higher than those in the hills and in Cardinia’s southern rural reaches.
A report by council officers acknowledged the survey, considering it a more optimistic response than the previous year.
This year’s survey supports the view that; in general, the community may be seeing the performance of council, and its overall direction, in a more positive light to last year,” it read.
“Review of the core performance measures shows that Cardinia’s performance was either stable or improved compared to council’s own results in 2017.”
Cardinia Shire received an overall index rating of 61 out of 100 – a four point increase on its performance in 2017.
