"Whoopee - we’re ahead of disastrous."
That was one sardonic reflection from Cr Kevin Gilbert on how the performance of Dunedin’s mayor and councillors had been perceived by residents in the past year.
Satisfaction about their performance was 29% in the year to June, dropping five points on the previous 12 months, a survey showed.
The Dunedin City Council’s annual residential opinion survey was something of an emotional rollercoaster to read, Cr Gilbert said at a meeting yesterday.
He noted visitation at Tūhura Otago Museum and Toitū Otago Settlers Museum remained strong and there was a high level of agreement Dunedin maintained and preserved its architectural heritage, but residents were much less convinced the council was a leader in encouraging development of a sustainable city.
This year’s result about the performance of the mayor and councillors was depressing for Cr Gilbert, who was not comforted by it being above the 25% and 26% recorded in 2021 and 2022, prompting his whoopee comment.
"We’re all tarred with the same survey brush," he said.
"We make decisions as a unit and so our behaviour and decisions reflect on us as a unit."
The survey was carried out monthly across the year by GravitasOPG and 1334 responses were received.
It had a margin of error of 2.7%.
In 2021, the survey provided an early indication the mayoralty of Aaron Hawkins was in trouble in the eyes of the public, as satisfaction with the mayor and councillors plunged from 40% to 25%.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich reeled off a list of council facilities viewed positively, including libraries, the Town Hall, Dunedin Botanic Garden and Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Nobody liked a large rates increase, "but, you know, that has been forced upon us", he said.
Mr Radich said parking was the top issue for residents.
"Their rating of parking is even worse than that of mayor and councillors," he said.
"So perhaps if we fix the parking, our rating might improve."
A high level of dissatisfaction was recorded for availability of parking in the central city, at 66%.
Cr Lee Vandervis said looking for positives in the survey had been like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
The two standout statistics were about insufficient central city parking and the performance of the mayor and councillors, he said.
Cr Steve Walker said parking in the city centre was never at 100% capacity.
Cr Brent Weatherall said elections were the only surveys he took real notice of.
"Give the public a [17.5%] rates rise and they get p..... off," he said.
Blanket speed reductions, speed humps and removal of carparks were other things that got up people’s noses, he said.
Cr Weatherall noted satisfaction with design of the central city retail area had increased from 51% to 57%, but he argued this came with a $100million price tag.
Cr Sophie Barker said the survey was like an annual report card.
"The honeymoon for the new council is over," she said.
Cr Barker referred to rates rises and "some behaviour challenges that I’m sure we’re working through".
Cr Andrew Whiley said a drop in satisfaction about support of economic development, from 41% to 35%, showed the importance of getting a strategy right and of putting more funding towards it.
