At its June meeting, council approved the further loan, and extending the repayment period from five to ten years. The interest rate of 4 per cent will remain unchanged.

Mayor Abb McAlister said that for a job that was budgeted to cost 430,000 to end up costing well over $800,000, "there's something gone wrong".

He said he didn't put any blame on council staff from a claim that in-kind work had not been done on time.

"From now on we've got to keep a real eye on it because we don't want other sporting organisations coming in and going over budget."

Deputy mayor Dennis Palmer proposed the loan funds be sourced from some "unbudgeted income" the council had received from its successful sale of Southern Phone shares.

He agreed with the suggestion that in future council should take ownership of project management to ensure outcomes are achieved "within the realms of the budget".