The Dunedin City Council’s latest quarterly residents’ opinion survey showed satisfaction in the performance of mayor and councillors rose nine points to 32%, while overall satisfaction with what the council provides climbed 13 points to 48%.
A report to Thursday’s policy and planning committee meeting on the March quarter survey said these were considered statistically significant results — ‘‘highly unlikely’’ to have happened by pure chance.
Quarterly results were best viewed as indicators of emerging trends and should be interpreted with caution due to a smaller sample size than annual surveys, the report said.
‘‘The results suggest a positive shift in perceptions of the council, while service satisfaction remains generally stable.’’
The results had a margin of error of +/-5.2% and 358 residents took part.
The survey did not identify the reasons for changes in satisfaction levels.
In the March 2025 quarter, satisfaction in elected members’ performance sat at 34%. It dropped to 27% in the June quarter and to 17% in the September quarter, before improving to 23% in the December quarter.
In February, when councillors received the December quarter’s results, Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker called on those at the council table to reflect on their conduct.
‘‘I think that all councillors need to look in the mirror and think about how their behaviour affects residents’ satisfaction,’’ she said.
Satisfaction in community board members’ performance was 37% in the March 2026 quarter results. It sat at or about 40% for most of last year, aside from a plunge to 24% in the September quarter.
The ‘‘value for money’’ of council services and activities had a satisfaction rate of 33%, up from 27% in the December quarter.
The report said while no service area recorded a statistically significant decline, infrastructure-related measures remained comparatively lower than other areas.
Parks, reserves and open spaces (85%), sports and recreation facilities (79%) and creative and cultural facilities (77%) received the highest marks, while roading-related infrastructure (34%), water-related infrastructure (50%) and regulatory, monitoring and enforcement services (57%) remained low.
