Sligo County Council has come out top in the Local Authority Satisfaction Survey 2020 recently published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC), the national independent oversight body for the local government sector in Ireland.
Sligo Ranked Top Local Authority
Sligo Ranked Top Local Authority in Survey
The report compares public perception on the performance of 10 similar sized Local Authorities, which found that there is an overall satisfaction rating of 59% for these Local Authorities, while Sligo County Council scored the highest rating of 68% (Details above)
Background
NOAC evaluated the performance of Local Authorities under five criteria:
- Satisfaction and perceptions of Council
- Attitudes to local area
- Communication, awareness and engagement
- Value for Money
- Contact with local Council
Ten Local Authorities were surveyed each year in 2018, 2019 and 2020 with Sligo surveyed in 2020. The survey was carried out by Ipsos MRBI
- Over half of those surveyed believe their Council is doing a good job, Sligo (68%) polled above average in this category.
- 48% of respondents feel informed by their Council while in Sligo this figure was 43%.
- The most important factors for making Sligo a good place to live/work were wage levels and affordable housing, 41% were satisfied with affordable housing services.
- 40% of respondents in Sligo had contacted their council in the past five years.
NOAC’S Annual Report on Local Authority Performance Indicators for 2019 was also published this week, and highlighted figures across a range of service areas:
Housing
Sligo County Council owned 2,156 social housing dwellings at end of 2019. The vacancy rate in 2019 was 3.46%, which reflects a 10% improvement on the 2018 figure of 3.83%. The average time for rehousing in vacant properties in 2019 was 25.64 weeks, which is a 28% improvement on the 2018 figure of 32.7 weeks. It is also less than the national average vacancy rate of 28.17 weeks.
Finance
The level of collection of commercial rates was 82% (an increase of 1% on 2018) and the level of housing loans collection was 64% (an increase of 2% on 2018)
Environment
19% of the Council's area is unpolluted or litter-free as compared to the 2018 figure of 7%. Cumulative energy savings made since 2009 are 26% up from the 2018 figure of 21.8%.
Fire Service
Attendance at the scene in respect of fire within 10 minutes was 57%, and 35% within 20 minutes. (In recent years Sligo Fire Service has recorded the fastest turn-out times in the country)
Library Service
There were an average of 2.66 visits per head of population and 201,830 items issued to library borrowers in 2019. This compared with 2.4 visits per head of population and 177,394 items issued in 2018.
Sligo County Council’s Acting Chief Executive Tom Kilfeather said
‘We welcome the opportunity to rate our performance against national standards, and we are particularly pleased to be ranked among the top Local Authorities in the country in terms of general satisfaction. The NOAC report also identifies areas where Local Authorities can improve, and we keep all our services under continuous review to deliver the optimum service to our customers with the resources available to us’