Local councils rubbished

Just 48% happy with municipal performance

LESS than half of Tasmanians are satisfied with the performance of their local council and nearly seven on 10 support mergers, a survey has found.

The Mercury’s Big Issues survey, which attracted more than 3200 responses, found just 47.77 per cent were happy with their council’s performance.

Readers were also asked if they believed there was enough transparency around council decisions; the results showed only 31.5 per cent of respondents believed there was.

Local Government Association of Tasmania president Christina Holmdahl said it was surprising to see that many were not satisfied.

“The number does surprise me that overall it’s that low,” Ms Holmdahl said.

“There are always a range of reasons people have a perceived dissatisfaction with councils, it can range from councils policies they don’t agree with to ‘why hasn’t my rubbish been picked up’?”

Ms Holmdahl said councils had a lot of responsibilities.

“Unless you actually know the reasons, it’s hard to pinpoint why [they voted this way].”

Ms Holmdahl was also surprised by the number of people who didn’t believe councils were transparent.

“Any official council work undertaken is documented in one way or another, obviously there are certain issues that can’t be disclosed, but any ratepayer can go and ask questions, and they will be replied to,” she said.

“All the information is accessible through council websites.

“Especially now we live in a time of immediate information, I think they’re [councils] pretty proactive. They have interactive websites updated regularly.”

Ms Holmdahl said the number of people who voted was only a small sample, which didn’t represent the more than 80,000 ratepayers across the state.

The Mercury also asked readers if they supported council mergers, something many have called for over the years to reduce the 29 councils across the state.

The results showed 68.54 per cent believed there were too many.

The possibility of council amalgamations is something being discussed in the Local Government review.

“It is something continually discussed in the sector,” Ms Holmdahl said.

“Some communities fear if they’re absorbed or merge, they will lose the ability to have access to their council.

“An important factor if a council is a good council is its financial viability.

“It’s a complicated question and it is being considered in the local government review.”