The 2020-21 plan, to be debated and released for public exhibition by the city's councillors at tonight's council meeting, forecasts a $4.4 million budget deficit due to the impact of coronavirus.

However, Wagga mayor Greg Conkey said this would not affect the capital works program and council would invest significant money over the next 12 months to grow the city.

Of the $94 million capital works budget, $23.3 million will go towards two stages of the Riverina Intermodal Freight and Logistics Hub.

A budget allocation of $12.8 million will be spent on rail sidings, while $10.5 million is reserved for important industrial subdivision and civil works.

Cr Conkey said the RiFL Hub was one of the "most exciting projects" for this city with a massive investment already made on the upgrade of roads and Eunony Bridge.

Committee 4 Wagga's chief executive Alan Johnston said the next two stages will be the "cornerstone of the infrastructure investment" for the RiFL Hub and "absolutely has to happen" for the project to move forward.

"It has been a long time coming and it's extremely significant. I expect infrastructure investment will continue to be one of the vehicles to drive recovery, as well as moving us towards a 100,000 population," he said.

The long-awaited upgrade of Dunns Road will be delivered in the next financial year, with a $7.9 million investment.

The council's total proposed roads expenditure for the 2020-21 period comes to $27.4 million. Cr Conkey said it was a difficult time for the council as far as the budget was concerned.

Fortunately, however, he said the pandemic "has not had an impact at all" on capital works with its outdoor staff and contractors still working around COVID-19.

The decision to waive fees and charges for those businesses struggling as a result of the pandemic will mean the budget "takes a huge hit," said Cr Conkey.

Using Wagga Airport as an example, Cr Conkey said the council will continue to waive fees for airlines which will mean a huge impact for some time. However, he said it was essential to support air services wherever it could to ensure QantasLink and Regional Express still maintain its flights for the city.

"There is still some difficult decisions that we still have to make but we are not alone," he said.

"The whole community has been impacted and what the new norm is going to be, we just don't know.

"We need to keep a close eye on the budget ... and see what happens over the next few months to see what we can do to save money."

Wagga City Council general manager Peter Thompson told The Daily Advertiser last week he was confident the council's finances would recover quickly.

At tonight's meeting, councillors will decide if they will release the draft combined delivery program and operational plan for community feedback.

It could also place its draft long-term financial plan for 2021 to 2030 on public exhibition for 28 days.