Keeping Our Customers Well Satisfied

Marlborough residents have given the Marlborough District Council a scorecard of 7 out of 10 in the latest survey assessing their satisfaction with the services and performance of the Marlborough District Council.

Nothing the Council does is ranked by the public at lower than 6.1 out of 10.

The researchers say, of the 10 councils it regularly reviews, this result is in the top of the range and significantly better than those at the bottom.

Six hundred and one residents are surveyed by the independent research company Research First on 23 different services provided by the Council and the data collection is weighted by age, gender and location of resident with three quarters of respondents having lived in Marlborough for ten years or more.

This year, those surveyed identified their top priorities as water supply, emergency management, the sewerage system and community safety. Last year, with the Christchurch earthquake fresh in peoples’ mind, emergency management was top priority.

Overall, the rating given for customer services was 7.9 out of a possible 10, up from last year’s 7.7. The overall rating of the Council was also up, 7 compared with last year’s 6.9.

Again, our top ranking service is the Library, ranked 8.3 out of 10. But people also place a high value on Council’s performance with sewerage and water supply services, at 8.1 and 8. There’s also been a big jump in the way our Rivers Engineering activity is perceived; now 7.1 out of 10 compared with 5.9 a year ago.

Council’s Community and Financial Planning Committee chair Francis Maher says the overall outcome suggests Marlborough people understand that they are receiving consistently high quality services from the Council.

“Given the constraints on budgets and the growing pressure of workloads, this is a very good result. It’s an endorsement of the high level of staff commitment that exists here and it’s good to know that so many members of the public recognise that they do get very good service from the council.

The survey is valuable to the council as it provides another opportunity for the public to have input into their community facilities and the levels of service they expect. The results can indicate where more resources/money may need to be applied.”

• See Resident Satisfaction Survey 2012