Taupo District Council provides good value and is in touch with its communities

Taupo ratepayers and residents have returned a ringing endorsement for the work being done by their Council.

Over two thirds of respondents to the latest Customer Satisfaction Survey believe they receive good value from Council and 75% believe Council is in touch with its communities.

The survey, which is undertaken every three years by the National Research Bureau has returned an excellent result with many of the results showing significant improvement and being recorded higher than, or on a par with, both the national average and Council’s peers.

The Mayor congratulated both councillors and staff for the excellent survey results with ratings for Councillors improving from 45% in 2006 to 69% this year. Staff ratings have also improved from 59% to 66%.

“I notice that not only have Councillors improved by 24%, but also the level of dissatisfaction has decreased from 18% in 2006 to only 2% in 2009. This is a great result and you can all take a bow,” said Mayor Rick Cooper.

“Especially pleasing is the fact that two thirds of our ratepayers believe they get good value from Council which I will take as a ringing endorsement of Council’s decision making, service delivery and community engagement,” he said.

Turangi-Tongariro residents are also very happy with the performance of their Community Board who received 63% good or very good rating.*

Corporate Planning Manager, Ariell King outlined the areas of greatest satisfaction with regards to Council activities and services which are council maintained gardens, local roads (excluding state highways), parks and reserves, wastewater, water supply and litter control. She said high numbers of respondents were also satisfied with Councils long term direction (70%) and thought the information they received was easy to use and understand.

Mrs King agreed with Councillor Alisa Gathergood who stressed the need to take a closer look at the results “We can use these results to identify any areas which need improving and or address any incorrect perceptions held by individuals or groups,” said Cr Gathergood.

The NRB survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9%. The NRB survey results will be available on the website: www.taupo.govt.nz