The Mayoral Relief Fund is available to assist Whanganui residents during "extreme hardship" or disaster.
Ms Main said if councillors wanted a ratepayer contribution to help rebuild the fund, it would need to be allowed for in the next annual plan.
"It's a decision for a future annual plan as to whether as a council we want to put an amount aside."
Councillor Ray Stevens, the district's representative on the Manawatu Wanganui Regional Disaster Fund Trust, said the council had to be "mean and mongrel" when lobbying for funds from it. "Unless you are a bully, you don't get your share of the dollars." Of the applications received in relation to last year's flooding, 153 were urban, 147 rural, 28 business and eight from community organisations.
Rural property owners received just under $700,000, the bulk of that from the Manawatu Wanganui Regional Disaster Fund, $164,000 was paid to urban property owners, with businesses getting $47,500 and community organisations $17,500.