"An unprecedented thrashing of our ratepayers" is how councillor Steve Morris colourfully described a first look at the council's draft budget for the next decade.
The Tauranga City Council has been in the process of preparing its draft Long Term Plan for 2018-28.
Councillors have been hearing presentations from different departments and groups for months, and have voted proposals and requests for money deemed worthy of ratepayer funding into the draft.
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In a confidential meeting on Monday, councillors got a look at the initial totals.
Mr Morris said the "high-level" figures were high but were only a first pass. There was a "robust" process to come where the estimates would be checked and "sheared" down as the council whittled down its funding priorities before finalising a draft for public consultation.
He believed it was appropriate for that first look to happen in a public-excluded session as there was "no confidence" in the figures yet and they could be misleading.
Councillor Catherine Stewart believed the discussion should have happened in public.
Mayor Greg Brownless said the next step was for the council to look at what it really wanted in the Long Term Plan. "Then you say 'how can we afford it?'"
Councillors in yesterday's committee meeting were noticeably reluctant to pile more money into the draft budget without good reason at yesterday's meeting but were convinced to approve requests from Tourism Bay of Plenty and for the Omanawa Falls upgrade.
On Omanawa Falls, councillor Larry Baldock said he thought the project was "certainly worthy" but wondered whether it would make it through the budget trimming and consultation processes to come.