The topic is for a second successive year the lowest-scored item on the 2021-22 survey, released yesterday, followed by the perennial bugbears of peak traffic flows (29%) and the state of the city’s roads (30%).
Modest increases in satisfaction were recorded in several areas, such as overall satisfaction for services and infrastructure delivery which increased from 49% to 53% and satisfaction with the council, which increased from 40% to 43%.
The performance of the mayor and councillors, and community boards, both increased by 1% to 26% and 33% respectively.
More significant gains were recorded regarding the handling of public inquires, which increased seven points to 69%, as did staff communication, which reached 76%.
Satisfaction with council response times increased 12 points to 74%.
As in previous years, attractions were a hit with those who visited, including Olveston (94%), Dunedin Botanic Garden (93%) and Toitū Otago Settlers Museum (92%).
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said the results showed there was still plenty of work ahead.
"It’s encouraging to see some small increases in some areas, but I stood on a platform of active listening and the message I’m hearing is loud and clear — we need to do more, and we will," Mr Radich said.
Council chief executive Sandy Graham said it was pleasing to see improvement in the way the council responded to issues raised by the community.
The council was focused on a core programme of work which included fixing roads, footpaths and pipes.
"We have listened to the community and now with the help of our contractors, our effort and resources are centred on delivering the improvements our community wants," she said.
There was more to do and the council would continue to focus on delivery, Ms Graham said.
The survey, which is conducted annually, covered the period from July 2021 to June 2022.
It was based on 4800 invitations to take part, which were sent to a random sample of residents aged 18 years and more from the electoral roll.
A total of 1313 responses were received, giving a response rate of 32%.
