Mildura Rural City Council deals with 1286 complaints, with rubbish proving a key concern

Mildura residents have not held back when it comes to services provided by the region’s council, with more than 1200 complaints logged over 12 months.

Residents have inundated Mildura Rural City Council with a massive number of complaints, with some locals waiting about six weeks to have their issue resolved.

The council logged 1286 complaints in the past financial year.

However the some ratepayers waited up to 43 days to have there complaints resolved.

In response to this a council spokesman said these complaints were more complex and required “lengthy reviews”.

“The majority of complaints we received, classified as Level 1 complaints, were resolved at first contact with our staff,” he said.

Mildura Mayor Liam Wood said despite the negative feedback from residents, the council’s rubbish collectors delivered a service better than the state average.

“Level 2 complaints are usually more complex, requiring comprehensive, lengthy reviews and monitoring to ensure each concern is resolved. This is why more time is required.”

Most of the complaints, between July, 2021 and June this year, related to the region’s rubbish pick-ups.

Mildura Mayor Liam Wood said despite the negative feedback, the council’s rubbish collectors delivered a service better than the state average.

Of the more than 2.8 million bin collections over the 12 months, a total of 1106 were missed, he said.

“If we compare these figures to the rest of Victoria, the average missed bin per 10,000 kerbside collections is 5.83 (statewide) — our figure is just 3.84,” he said.

“As you can see our teams are doing a fantastic job in that regard.”

On average Mildura Rural City Council took about 43 days to resolve level 2 complaints, but of all the complaints received, only 69 — or five per cent — recorded a resident as being dissatisfied with the council’s service.

Deputy mayor Helen Healy said she was impressed by the council’s improvement in dealing with complaints.

“I also noted in the report that over 1200 complaints were resolved at the first point of call, so it’s quite right that we are getting better at dealing with customer complaints,” she said.