By Charlene Gatt
RESIDENTS are suffering a seven-year itch in their satisfaction with Maribyrnong City Council, with the council receiving its lowest performance rate since 2004.
This year’s Annual Community Survey revealed residents in the municipality were less than impressed with the council’s handling of the maintenance and cleanliness of Footscray’s CBD, public toilets, parking enforcement and footpath maintenance and repairs.
Promoting local economic development was also a key concern.
The poor scorecard earned the council an overall performance score of 6.22, its lowest mark in seven years.
In other results, residents were most happy with their weekly rubbish collection and recycling, as well as local libraries.
Residents rated safety, policing and crime, traffic management and car parking as the top issues facing the council.
Less than one in five residents correctly identified Sarah Carter as this year’s mayor, while 72.4 per cent of respondents couldn’t say who led the council.
Mayor Sarah Carter said the survey highlighted the issues the council needed to work towards in the coming year.
“The survey shows that residents rate core services as the most important, and we are always working to improve these vital services we provide to the community,” Cr Carter said.
“Although some of these issues are outside of the council’s control, we are taking action where we can, such as installing CCTV in central Footscray and developing transport plans for the future growth of the city.”
Councillor Sel Sanli added: “This shows that we do have a lot to do to reach the expectations of residents in the municipality.”
The report was conducted by Metropolis Research and involved face-to-face interviews with 800 City of Maribyrnong residents.
Information from the survey is then used to set a priority list for works in the annual council budget.
