The fireworks over public art at Monday night’s council meeting started when Uranquinty artist Scott Howie railed against Councillor Paul Funnell’s campaign to cap arts funding.

“I don’t want to live in a city… where the value of art is publicly ridiculed by some of our city’s leaders,” Mr Howie said.

“Choosing to fill our streets with art is such a powerful choice to make, a statement about the hopes of the city.

“When council invests in infrastructure it invests in public art... but beware the forces of dross and mediocrity, they’re armed and ready to take up battle against you; it’s so easy take a pot shot at public art.”

However, those calls fell on deaf ears, as councillors voted 5-4 to adopt Cr Funnell’s amendment.

Under the old model, one per cent of council’s capital works was set aside each year in a public art reserve. However, the changes mean only the first $50,000 of that money is held for art, the rest of it going into a “community works reserve”.

Councillor Paul Funnell, who had been agitating for the changes for some time, said it put art on a level playing field with other community funding requests.

“The number of calls I’ve had thanking me for doing this is beyond comprehension,” he said. “We haven’t stopped public art… they can be like everyone else and apply for funding, or save up for it. Common sense has prevailed.”

The funding cut drew anger from Cr Vanessa Keenan, who said it flew in the face of the community strategic plan and recent public engagement.

“We hear all the time that we’re not listening to the people,” she said.

“Here’s a classic example of that, the overwhelming majority has been ignored.”

Cr Kennan went on to say a number of arts projects would be scrapped as a result of the cuts.

Academic and art lover David Gilbey said the amendment to the public art policy would cut annual funding by two thirds and was a bad idea for the future of the city.

“Wagga had set itself up as a leader or cultural awareness and amenity, but this is a step backwards and reduces our growth and development potential,” Mr Gilbey said.

“We don’t have the natural advantages of being on the coast or near mountains – we do have the lovely river – so art partly defines our sense of space and connection to this place.”