Wagga's official New Year's Eve celebration will return to the Victory Memorial Gardens in a "scaled down" version approved by councillors on Monday evening.
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The $50,000 previously set aside as Wagga City Council's annual sponsorship for a private operator to run the event will instead become the entire budget.
The previous two New Years Eve events were held at Lake Albert under the 'Skyworks' format, which followed four years of Committee 4 Wagga running the event in the Victory Memorial Gardens.
Fireworks will remain part of the event, with a single display scheduled for 9.30pm on New Year's Eve.
In supporting the motion, Cr Dan Hayes said he wanted to "let the community know" that while the event would be different than the past few years "doesn't necessarily mean it will be worse".
"It will be smaller. What we saw over the past few years is that our eyes might have been bigger than our stomachs," he said.
"Some of the ideas that people wanted were probably outside the budget that was provided.
"It has fallen back onto the council to provide a simpler event."
Cr Paul Funnell said he had concerns about spending "31 per cent of our budget" for New Years Eve on "event organising, staff time and traffic control".
"I believe that there is better value in the event being at Bolton Park," he said.
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Council community director Janice Summerhayes said the decision followed calls for expressions of interest for businesses and organisations to take on the 2019 event.
"The two organisations which have delivered the event in the past six years have found the event too onerous, costly and demanding and therefore are unable to continue doing it," she said.
"Council advertised for expressions of interest twice, and there was no interest from businesses or organisations to commit to this year's event.
"Given that outcome, Council will use its $50,000 budget to deliver a scaled down event this year to meet community expectations for a fireworks display."