Complaints about Maribyrnong council have soared in the past three years, making it the fourth most complained about council in the state.
The Victorian Ombudsman’s Office annual report, released last week, shows the office received 113 complaints against Maribyrnong council in the 12 months to July.
The result continues an upward trend from 78 complaints two years ago and 97 last year.
The only councils to attract more complaints this year were Casey, Moreland and Whittlesea, which each have more than double the population of Maribyrnong.
There were 41 complaints against Hobsons Bay in the same period, up from 29 the year prior but below the 48 reports in 2014-15.
The figures do not cover complaints directly made to councils.
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass said complaints received about local councils ranged from issues such as parking infringements, rates and how complaints are handled, to improper conduct and poor governance.
“We encourage councils to ‘learn to love complaints’ as each complaint is free feedback about what someone thinks,” she said.
“We have also issued a good practice guide for complaint handling in local government to help local councils do it better … all too often, we see complaints about how a council has handled someone’s complaint.”
Maribyrnong council acting chief executive Celia Haddock said the complaints listed in the report were in line with the average for other inner city councils.
“Council is committed to the delivery of excellence in customer service and our Customer Service Charter is currently undergoing review,” she said.
“Council undertakes regular reviews and improvements of our processes, services and mechanisms for providing information to our community to ensure that we provide an excellent quality of service to our community, in turn reducing the number of complaints.”
