Council staff had drafted an initial operational plan, with council asked to endorse the budget and plan for the next year. The plan is separate to the four-year delivery program, but is designed to support those long-term goals.

Councillor Dino Zappacosta surprised attendees with a list of amendments during the meeting, with his own estimation of an additional $320,000 in expenses.

Projects Mr Zappacosta pushed include an additional $80,000 to be allocated to playground equipment, a 'Welcome to Refugees' sign, adorning the Pioneer Park water tank with a mural and another mural in Yenda.

"I know that council does have a program where we try to do one playground per year around the city, but in a city that has well over 50-odd parks, it will be a while before we get around to doing most of the playgrounds. I propose we bump that up, almost double it so we can at least do two playgrounds for this coming year," he said.

Additionally, Mr Zappacosta requested $50,000 for the Yoogali cycleway and installation of plaques for the Women's Land Army park. Councillor Glen Andreazza immediately seconded the additions, however others had reservations about the cost.

General manager Brett Stonestreet urged councillors to be cautious with spending, noting that councils are feeling the pinch of receiving less funding from state and Commonwealth coffers. He noted that 'expenditures are easy to incur, revenues are far more difficult to come by.'

"The general fund is under very great pressure," he said.

"I'm not making reference to any particular project ... what I will say is that councillors know the imperative of carefully planning your finances."

READ MORE

Mayor Doug Curran said that the community would expect council to complete any project that money goes to, whether that money is enough to complete it or not.

"It's important to be aware that, for example, if the mural for the water tank near Pioneer Park and the Yenda one was beyond the $60,000 - that's the money that is budgeted so if it becomes 80 or 90 [thousand], projects start to get reeled back in."

Mr Zappacosta had accounted for some of the extra funding, noting that eliminating a planned extension to the council administration building would save an estimated $200,000 that could be used on the new projects.

He hoped that additional money could be gained through state or Commonwealth grants.

Mr Stonestreet said that the administration building's extension would have to be built eventually.

"Due to the expansion of the city and additional services, those staff numbers have slowly increased over that ten years to a point where we are reaching a situation where in circumstances, WH&S requirements could be seen to be compromised," he said.

After the long debate and a final urge from Mr Stonestreet to limit spending, councillors voted and by a narrow margin, approved the amendments. From now, the draft budget and operational plan will be shared with the community for feedback and brought back to council chambers for more discussion and confirmation.

Mr Curran wrapped things up before putting it to councillors for voting.

"This isn't the end of the budget deliberations, I think that's the important note."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: