And councillors have warned that figure was only set to increase by another $32 million in 14 years' time if it didn't increase the amount spent on roads and buildings.

Cr Richard Ziegeler said a 10-year draft asset plan - a requirement under the new Local Government Act 2020 - showed the council was continually under pressure to maintain its assets.

"Our asset volume is enormous. While Warrnambool city is a relatively small community, the asset volume is mind-boggling at times," he said.

The council has $865 million worth of assets which includes 390 buildings, 2.7 million square metres of sealed roads, 75 playgrounds, 210 open spaces, 265 kilometres of pipes, 61 bridges and 350 kilometres of concrete or sealed paths.

Cr Max Taylor said he was surprised by the significant amount of assets the council had to look after.

"That's a lot to manage," he said.

Cr Ben Blain said the council needed to start talking about how it was going to cover the gap in the funding needed to pay for the rising costs and whether it was going to fall to ratepayers or other levels of government.

He said in the shorter term, the council would be able to manage the assets but in the next 10 to 13 years funding would have to be increased in order to keep the assets in an acceptable condition.

"These assets are not just council playgrounds and council buildings but it's roads, bridges, drainage, pathways, open space," he said.

"We really need to be on the front foot here and start planning on how we are going to manage our assets in years to come? How are we actually going to fund these things?

"We are in a rate cap environment at the moment. Is it something that we're going to expect ratepayers to totally foot or is it something we're going to have to be lobbying state government for in order to make sure we've got funds in order to properly service our communities?"

He described it as a crucial plan for the council, especially while the city was going through such a sustained period of growth.

"Every new housing estate at some stage has assets that will be given to council," he said.

Cr Angie Paspaliaris said she was really worried that the asset backlog would potentially increase to an "unacceptable" level in 12 to 13 years' time if funding levels were not increased.

Cr Ziegeler said sustainability was the key word when it came to the impact of climate change on the council's assets over the next 10 to 20 years.

The council's plan says keeping up with the asset renewal backlog was "a balancing act at the best of times".

"The funding bucket is only so big, there are lots of challenges and we can't do everything," it said.

It says assets that were poorly inspected, maintained or renewed could result in injury to life, breaching legislative requirements and lead to higher future costs.

The draft asset plan is out for public feedback.

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