A community survey, which will be carried out by Jetty Research, will be a random phone survey of more than 500 adult householders and will cover a wide age and geographical range.

Steve McGrath, Council's General Manager said the problem was the organisation currently spends more than they earn.

"As an organisation, Council has been practising belt-tightening for years in the face of limited funds, decades of rate-pegging by the State Government and the ever-increasing costs of maintaining and renewing our ageing infrastructure ? our roads, bridges, buildings and other facilities," Mr McGrath said.

"So, last year we undertook a comprehensive service review of Council's operations as a first step in addressing the issue.

"The principle behind the service review was to challenge what we do and why we do it while the aim was to consistently review every service Council delivers, both internally and externally, in terms of the '3Rs' ? the reason we provide it, the resources that go into it and the results that we're delivering."

Mr McGrath said it came as no surprise, however, that the review did not reveal any easy ways to save money.

"Basically, the decision Council faces is whether to cut the level of services we deliver or increase rates through a special rate variation," Mr McGrath said. "What we're seeking from the community is input to help us prioritise the allocation of Council's resources."

"We want the community to tell us where and how to allocate Council's limited resources to achieve the highest level of satisfaction."