A $2 million grant to help lift the Hundertwasser Art Centre off the ground will be added directly to the "bricks and mortar" funding already locked into the project.
Whangarei District mayor Sheryl Mai said the building consents process was almost completed but was on hold until after the telephone survey intended to gauge the true mood of the people regarding the HAC.
There was no more paperwork or planning required that would eat into the $4 million, already in hand, of the target $5 million, which included the $2 million announced on Thursday.
The funding would only be uplifted should the build go ahead.
However, if the council's final decision were a thumbs down, a new, possibly protracted consultation process would have to be undertaken to extract the already set-aside funding from the next Long Term Plan's budget, Ms Mai said.
In the interim, though, is another round of public consultation via a landline-only telephone survey.
Even that survey might not fully influence the council's final decision, Ms Mai said.
"Whichever way it goes, it is just another step in the process to inform [the] council."
While the $2 million Lottery Grants Board "special projects" money announced on Thursday was crucial, the grant was more notable as recognition by central Government that the HAC was nationally significant, Ms Mai said.
She said she did not regret the HAC being on the agenda at the council's last general meeting, despite some concerns that the decision might have been different had that funding already been granted.
"It brought people out to say 'yes' or 'no', 'for' or 'against'.
"I'm a great believer in the process," Ms Mai said.
"If the final outcome is 'yes' and we manage to get the extra $1 million the council now needs, the building consent process can be started up."
Whangarei councillor Greg Martin said the funding boost was not a game changer in his view.
"The thing that's going to change my mind is when people tell me they want (the HAC), and that can only happen through a proper survey."
Mr Martin said he had originally been all for the Hundertwasser but his opinion changed after many people told him they were opposed.
His concerns were never how to pay for the build but what the unknown ongoing costs would be to ratepayers, he said.