Cr Gleeson said he couldn't "reiterate enough the importance of this facility to the town", asking fellow councillors to "take whatever actions are required" to keep the centre afloat.

Cr Purcell called the centre "a great asset for the shire" but said it had always been financially stretched.

"Even when it was built it was built on a shoestring, which meant there were some issues later on but if the group involved initially hadn't have done that, it would never have been built," he said.

The facility was built at the insistence of local community members in 2007 despite council recommendations against the project. The council cited statistics at the time showing communities with fewer than 30,000 couldn't support the kind of facility proposed.

Cr Jim Doukas, a councillor since 2002, recalled the project dividing the community and council. "Council meetings got very boisterous and even threatening with some community members getting very wild," he said.

"I think one of the meetings even had to be adjourned." Eventually council agreed to contribute $400,000 to the construction costs if the community raised a certain amount, and on the condition the centre wouldn't ask for any further funding from the shire.

Aside from the $400,000, the council also provided $100,000 when the centre opened in 2007, and a $100,000 interest-free loan.

By 2009 the facility was on the verge of ruin, but the council stepped in to find $150,000 per year to subsidise the centre's annual losses.

Then councillor Colin Ryan spearheaded the bailout, coming up with the idea to pay for it using a levy on campsite bookings at Port Fairy's caravan parks.

In 2013 the arrangement was reassessed, with council maintaining the $150,000 annual subsidy for the next four years on the condition the committee of management provided quarterly financial reports and met with the shire's recreation and community support manager.

A report at the time predicted the centre was improving financially and would rely less and less on council support.

But an audit in 2017 showed the facility's financials hadn't improved. Council continued giving $150,000 per year, but added further conditions, with two councillors and the council recreation and community manager allowed to attending centre committee meetings.

The council also told Belfast Aquatics it had to repay the $100,000 interest-free loan from 2007, but in 2019 council decided to write off the loan.

Cr Daniel Meade said the decision to forgo the repayment set a "dangerous precedent" and the vote split council along geographical lines with the support of Port Fairy councillors getting a narrow majority.

The centre continues to receive funding from the council, getting $200,000 in the past financial year.

The Standard understands the facility still needs several upgrades with costs possibly stretching well beyond $1 million.