Island residents not so satisfied with shire

HOW satisfied are you with the performance of the Bass Coast Shire Council over the past 12 months?

Pretty satisfied, according to an important annual survey, especially if you’re in the 18-34 age group, but not so much if you come from Phillip Island.

In fact, Island residents consistently rated the Wonthaggi-based Bass Coast Shire Council lower than those surveyed on the mainland.

The results are in from the 2022 Community Satisfaction Survey and overall, it’s pretty much steady as she goes according to the 400 or so local people who participated in the important performance poll.

On the ‘Overall Performance’ rating, those surveyed said council slipped slightly from its 2021 rating of 59/100 to 57/100 in 2022.

But, not only is a drop of 2% not a statistically significant change, a spokesman for the shire said it was also reflective of a decrease across the ‘Large Rural Councils’ sector.

“The results are down right across the sector with the decreases experienced by Bass Coast comparable to other Large Rural Council’s,” said a spokesperson for the council.

“A break down of the results demonstrates the sector wide drop.”

In fact, you might even say, Bass Coast went slightly against the trend of marking similar councils to Bass Coast down.

Where Bass Coast’s Overall Performance rating went down by 2% to 57%, the average for Large Rural Councils was down by 3% to 55% this year.

On seven of the eight categories where information was provided by Bass Coast, respondents to the survey rated Bass Coast Council either better than the average for similar councils or at least on a par.

The only exception was its performance on Waste Management which the survey marked down 1% compared to last year to 63%, and the shire was slightly under the average for Waste Management across Large Rural Councils at 65%.

And compared to its neighbour, South Gippsland, coming off a sacked council in June 2019 and two years of state-appointed administration, Bass Coast continues to be rated more highly by its residents, but with South Gippsland making significant performance gains in the past 12 months, after a new council was put in place.

Here’s how Bass Coast and South Gippsland shires were rated by their residents in the annual satisfaction survey:

• Overall Performance: Bass Coast 57, South Gippsland 49, Large Rural 55
• Value for Money: Bass Coast 48, South Gippsland 44, Large Rural 48
• Overall Direction: Bass Coast 47, South Gippsland 51, Large Rural 47
• Customer Service: Bass Coast 69, South Gippsland 66, Large Rural 67
• Waste Management: Bass Coast 63, South Gippsland 63, Large Rural 65
• Sealed Local Roads: Bass Coast 54, South Gippsland 42, Large Rural 45
• Community Decisions: Bass Coast 53, South Gippsland 48, Large Rural 51
• Consultation & Engagement: Bass Coast 51, South Gippsland 44, Large Rural 51

According to individual responses, Phillip Island residents gave the lowest score of any residents in the shire to Overall Performance, Value for Money, Overall Direction of Council and Waste Management, possibly reflective of the red bin controversy over the holiday season.

The Islanders also didn’t like how the shire council was going with Community Decisions and Consultation.

The Bass Coast Shire Council’s Customer Service team received an excellent rating across the board of 69%, ahead of South Gippsland on 66% and the average for similar councils of 67%, but the survey noted that people aged 50-64, men, and those living in the Westernport Ward weren’t quite so pleased.

Non-residents of the shire predictably didn’t have a problem with the condition of Sealed Local Roads in Bass Coast, while local residents marked the shire’s performance down, however, the overall response on local road maintenance was still pretty good at 54%, well ahead of the rating for similar councils at a poor 45%.

So, all-in-all, Bass Coast fared well in the independent survey, coordinated by the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions on behalf of Victorian councils, with the only caveat being the level of dissatisfaction with the shire on Phillip Island.