Wollongong council budget battered by storms

The storm occurred just days before councillors voted in favour of putting its draft infrastructure delivery program out on public exhibition.

At Monday night's council meeting, Cr David Brown said the destruction over the weekend may well have an effect on shaping and changing the infrastructure priorities.

"What we do over the next year may well need some fine tuning given the weekend's event," Cr Brown said.

"You may probably have to shift some funds from capital works commitments to maintenance, and the state and federal government's disaster declarations may well influence how we go about funding the program and indeed the entirety of the work."

Cr Brown also praised council staff who were out on Friday "inspecting and clearing drains at known hotspots in anticipation of the forecast weather" and the SES volunteers who visited those living in at-risk caravan parks to give evacuation advice.

He also noted how the community worked together over the weekend.

"The number of people who offered that they've got a few hours, does anyone need some help," he said.

"That was incredibly encouraging to see such community in spirit. It was uplifting to see dozens of people saying 'I've got some time, who need some help? What can I do?'."

In terms of where the council spent its money Cr Brown said things might be tight.

"I suspect that the next few years it will require some budget discipline in reviewing what what we do and keep the wish list as modest as possible," he said.

"We are not the complete masters of our financial destiny when cost shifting and uncertain grant funding from levels of government have a significant impact on us and leave us exposed."

Cr Mithra Cox spoke about the damage to the city's sporting fields, which saw the start of the local football comp postponed.

"What state those fields will be in and whether they can play on them next week is still unclear and what the damage bill is going to be across the board is really unclear but it's likely to be quite significant," Cr Cox said.

"It's going to be something we need to grapple with in terms of budget but in a long-term strategic context this is the cost of climate change and it's going to be something that we will be seeing with increasing frequency."

The operational plan and infrastructure delivery program will be on public exhibition until May 7.