Wagga's community New Year's Eve event should get double the current level of council sponsorship money, according to former organisers.
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Organisers from two different groups said the event will require an operator with significant resources to continue at its current scale, which attracts more than 10,000 visitors.
Wagga City Council last week launched a second attempt to find a suitable operator, highlighting its $50,000 sponsorship and the event's fundraising opportunities.
Chris Moane, who was on the organising committee for the two previous New Year's Eve 'Skyworks' events, said the council raising its sponsorship level could help but it also required certain kinds of operators.
"In fairness to the council, it is not its job to fund in full these types of community events," he said.
"They are community events and they need the community, the business community and private sector to get in and help.
"I would not suggest that the council should fund the whole thing but an increase up to the $100,000 level would continue to cement Wagga's event as one of the biggest in the regional areas."
Committee 4 Wagga chief executive Alan Johnston was on the think tank's board when it ran New Year's Eve in the Victory Memorial Gardens over four years before the first Skyworks at Lake Albert in 2017.
"We very much relied on sponsors and, in the first few years, gold coin donations from the public," Mr Johnston said.
"It really does involve a lot of co-ordination with vendors and entertainment.
"We certainly didn't make any money of it; we took it on board to get this sort of thing going in the city and show it could be done."
Mr Johnston said he hadn't seen the council's latest tender document for New Year's Eve but council considering more support or taking on the event itself could be a "win-win for the community".
"It's a public social and cultural event, it's really important, and maybe it's something council could have a significant impact on," he said.
Mr Moane estimated the the previous cost of Skyworks was about $150,000 in cash per year and another $100,000 to $150,000 from in-kind services.
The principal operator of Skyworks was Thomas Bros but the Wagga car dealership did not seek another two years of running the event.
According to Wagga Mayor Greg Conkey, there was an issue with asking council to increase its financial contribution.
Mr Moane's company, Moane Fitzgerald Civil was also a sponsor and he estimated a contribution of 1000 staff hours into Skyworks alone in addition to money and in-kind services.
"It takes a huge amount of organisation and what Thomas Bros brought to the table in addition to finances was the fact that they allocated six month's of their event manager's time to co-ordinate pulling the event together," Mr Moane said.
Mr Moane said it Thomas Bros had a of experience in running other community and charitable events.
"It would be difficult for anyone else or another organisation to run (a Skyworks-style New Year's Eve) without a project manager and an events manager, I would say nigh on impossible," he said.
"I notice the council said they had some applications but they hadn't met the criteria.
"I think, reading between the lines, they are looking for a similar operational aspect of what Thomas Bros were able to put under it as a foundation."
Mr Moane said he and hopefully the rest of the Skyworks committee would offer to help the new operator by passing on what they had learned while putting on two successful events.
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