In its report on the survey, Key Research said residents revealed they expected rates to be fair and reasonable and wanted rates to be spent efficiently on local services, as well as ‘greater transparency on how fares were allocated.

The survey also had a section for general community feedback, where concerns about value for money and pricing being too high were most frequently mentioned.

Areas of better performance included district libraries, sports fields, parks and reserves, community halls and understanding what can be recycled, which 88% of respondents said they were satisfied with, as well as playgrounds (85% satisfied).

Key findings presented in the report show that satisfaction has remained relatively consistent, with at least six in ten respondents satisfied year on year.

However, we have observed a gradual decline since 2022, going from 65% to 62% in 2023, then to 61% in 2024.

Overall satisfaction with the board was strongly influenced by its reputation (67% impact score).

In this context, the quality of services (impact score of 33%) and trust (impact score of 32%) were the key factors that affected the reputation of the council.

Having one of the lowest satisfaction scores (59%) among reputation-related metrics, trust was identified as an area for improvement in addition to financial management with a satisfaction score of 48%.

Meanwhile, significant year-on-year improvements were recorded in a number of key infrastructure and services, with the council’s efforts to improve roads following bad weather particularly welcomed.

The quality of local roads, excluding national highways, increased by nine percentage points, from 39% in 2023 to 48% in 2024 – the highest satisfaction rate recorded since 2022.

Despite this, 73% of suggestions included requests for better maintenance, timely and appropriate repairs, and addressing complaints about the prolonged duration of road works.

In other metrics, quality of life remained stable compared to 2023, showing only a 2% decrease, from 76% in 2023 to 74% in 2024.

Among all areas assessed, 23 measures showed a decrease in satisfaction with the 2023 results, 16 measures showed an increase in satisfaction and three remained the same as the last survey.

Hauraki Mayor Toby Adams said he was pleased with the results and it was good to see the council achieved an average to above average score.

Key Research said Hauraki District Council was “fairly close” to the results of the other 18 New Zealand councils and that Hauraki’s results reflected what was happening nationally when it came to customer satisfaction.