Applicants for the Rural City of Wangaratta's community, tourism and event grants will be vying for a much smaller bucket of money in 2026-'27.

On presenting its draft budget at last week's meeting, council alerted the community to the fact it would notice some reductions in activity, including fewer events.

This includes the removal in 2027 of the annual Outdoor Ball, which has been staged by the rural city over the past decade.

Council also highlighted the reduction of the funding envelope across its grant programs, from $245,000 in 2025-'26 to $121,000 in 2026-'27, which will no doubt impact the local groups seeking the funding.

Rural city Councillor Allison Winters acknowledged at last week's meeting that "some of the decisions reflected in the budget will not be easy for the community to hear".

"There are reductions in event expenditure, reductions in community grants and sponsorships, and there are limitations on new capital works," Cr Winters said.

"They're not decisions that have been made lightly.

"I think it's important that we're really upfront about that, but at the same time I think we need to be honest about the position local government finds itself in.

"As Mayor Irene Grant has said, councils across Victoria are under enormous pressure.

"We've had a decade of rate-capping below CPI, rapidly increasing costs to deliver infrastructure and services, and now escalating fuel costs, contractor costs and a significant reduction in certainty in state and Commonwealth funding."

Amid these pressures, Cr Winters described the budget put forward by council as "responsible".

Cr Grant said it reflected "the environment we're living in".

"At the end of the day, there's a limited amount of money, and we've got to make it go as far as we possibly can, and ensure this organisation continues to provide services and support its community into the future," she said.

As reported in last week's Wangaratta Chronicle, the 2026/27 budget adopted by council has a $3.07 million accounting surplus including a $22.27m capital works program.

The budget has a total income of $89.76m including a rate rise consistent with the 2.75 per cent rate cap, with an operating expenditure of $86.69m (a reduction of $2.8m).

A seven per cent hike in waste charges was tabled in the budget, however, councillors were asked to consider a six per cent rise, reflective of the latest fuel price projections.

However, the chief executive officer Matt Nelson has been given the delegation to vary adopted fees and charges during the course of the financial year following consultation with councillors.

Capital works include Green Street road upgrade ($1.16m), WSAC Power Efficiency Implementation ($1.06m), Merriwa Park road and pedestrian access upgrade ($423k), Wareena Park community hub architecture ($150k), Eldorado township development ($127k), WJ Findlay female changerooms (120k), Merriwa Park playground (($106k), and showgrounds grandstand refurbishment ($106k).

Some $5.37m in projects will be carried forward from this year to 2026/27, including the Wangaratta netball facility upgrade ($3.05m) and Wangaratta flood mitigation strategy design ($1.57m).