The Victorian Ombudsman received more than 100 complaints about Melton and Moorabool councils in the financial year to June 30.
Of the 29 complaints received by Ombudsman Deborah Glass about Moorabool council, only seven were forwarded to the council for investigation.
A Moorabool council spokeswoman said the complaints related mainly to planning, compliance and rating issues.
She said all had been resolved to the satisfaction of Ms Glass.
“If we are contacted by the Ombudsman’s office, we are required to investigate the issue raised by them and provide a response back,” she said.
“Over the past financial year, council received 81,377 telephone calls from residents. Only seven resulted in escalation to the Ombudsman’s office.”
Complaints to the Ombudsman about state government departments, agencies and councils increased to almost 40,000 in the past financial year, with 3256 being formally investigated.
The Ombudsman’s annual report identified “unreasonable enforcement of parking regulations” and “providing an inadequate remedy to address a complaint” as residents’ main concerns.
While not all complaints required investigating, with many being resolved “quickly and informally”, Ms Glass urged people to voice their concerns.
“All complaints contribute to a picture of dissatisfaction, which can be used to drive improvements in public administration.”
Melton council did not reply to Star Weekly’s questions.
