A $425,000 windfall from the Federal Government has been welcomed by the Warrnambool City Council, but it is yet to determine where the money will be spent.
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The city's chief executive officer Peter Schneider said it would be discussed over the coming weeks how to best use the money.
The money was announced last week as part of the government's plan to help stimulate the economy in the wake of the coronavirus impact.
"The Federal Government has advised that it can be used for a range of community benefits that could include constructing or improving bridges and tunnels, street lighting or providing support for social infrastructure projects such as new or upgraded bicycle and walking paths, community facilities, picnic shelters or barbeque facilities at parks," Mr Schneider said.
The council has a list of projects in the pipeline the money could be used for.
It has a major backlog of asset renewal projects such as footpath upgrades that need attention, and was part of the reason it was given special permission to lift rates above the state government-imposed rate cap for two years - a decision the decided not to go ahead with this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The council also intends to spend $1 million for its street lighting energy saving initiative this year, $450,000 to upgrade of the Hopkins River Bridge while it has also begun looking to replace or repair the South Warrnambool bridge.
The importance of walking tracks was raised by councillors at the last meeting, with the COVID-19 pandemic putting the spotlight on how much they were needed during times of crisis.
Warrnambool Ratepayers Association president Brian Kelson said Warrnambool was not getting the stimulus funding it needed or deserved due to a lack of readiness by the council.
He said other councils in the region had received about $2 million in funding to renew assets, while Warrnambool received about a quarter of that.
He questioned why the council had not received a greater share of the funding given it had got special permission to break the state-imposed rate cap, citing a $16.5 million asset renewal gap. "Our assets are supposed to be in such need of repair," Mr Kelson said.
Mr Schneider said the funding allocations were calculated in a similar way to how the Roads to Recovery Program and the road component of the Financial Assistance Grants works.
"This formula takes into consideration road length and population and is based on recommendations of Local Government Grants Commissions," he said.
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