On Wednesday night, Bathurst Regional Council will consider a request from Glenray Industries to waive more than $13,000 in waste management fees accrued following a devastating fire at the Browning Street laundry last year.

A report to councillors by corporate services and finance director Aaron Jones said the waste was unearthed and disposed of as workers cleared the site to rebuild the laundry - after Glenray's initial insurance claim had been processed.

For that reason the $13,658.70 in extra waste management centre fees was not included in the claim, prompting the request from Glenray to have them written off by council.

Mr Jones' report recommends councillors reject the claim, saying council's Section 356 Donations allocation has been fully committed.

It's the responsible advice councillors would expect from a senior staff member charged with making the budget balance. But, in reading his report, it's hard to escape the impression that Mr Jones either hopes councillors will go against that advice, or at least expects that they will.

He includes a line advising that "... should council wish to approve this request, either in part or in full, funding for this write-off could be provided by offsetting the Waste Management Centre revenue" which, while perhaps not unheard of, is a little unusual.

And it's hard to imagine councillors won't seize on the opportunity to send finance staff back to the drawing board to fund at least a partial write-off.

It's also hard to imagine anyone in Bathurst complaining too loudly if they do.

Glenray does a fantastic job of providing job opportunities for people who might otherwise be left out of the workforce and it's an organisation that has a special place in this city's heart.

The council budget is always tight but there are some requests that simply demand the support of the whole community. Councillors might not want to write-off the entire $13,658.70, but a 50-50 split would not surprise.

Perhaps the real interest on Wednesday night will be watching to see which of the councillors can rise to their feet first to amend Mr Jones' recommendation.

Let the fun begin.