IT looks like residents and race fans will need to wait a bit longer before the word 'Bathurst' is able to be made permanently legible on Mount Panorama.
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Councillor Ian North recently asked where the process was up to on plans to put a permanent Bathurst sign on the side of the iconic mountain.
It has already been a long-running fight and Bathurst Regional Council's director of engineering services, Darren Sturgiss, confirmed that there had been money previously allocated for this project, but the funds had to be redirected elsewhere.
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Mr Sturgiss said it would be an expensive exercise to have the word 'Bathurst' installed permanently beneath the existing 'Mount Panorama' lettering and, at this time, council simply does not have the money.
"The cost of making the Bathurst sign permanent is approximately $300,000," Mr Sturgiss told councillors.
"The letters are actually bigger than you think ... the letters are over 20 metres high, so it is a significant amount of material that needs to go into that."
Since Bathurst's bicentenary year in 2015, the city's name has appeared on Mount Panorama - but only in paint that fades after use.
The letters are touched up prior the Bathurst 12 Hour in February and the Bathurst 1000 in October, costing council less than $3000 each time.
The cost of making the Bathurst sign permanent is approximately $300,000 ...
- Engineering services director Darren Sturgiss
At hearing the cost, Cr North suggested that council consider funding a program of works that would see the lettered repainted the letters regularly.
He said, potentially, it would be more cost-effective.
"Maybe four or five times a year, we could have it looking good all-year-round if it is only $3000 a hit," he said.
The proposal for a permanent Bathurst sign on the Mount has been pushed by resident Peter Dowling.
He has brought up the idea to five mayors over the course of 20 years, but it wasn't until the 2017-18 financial year that council allocated money to the idea.
Mr Dowling has previously said that it was important to have the city's name on the Mount as several times a year there are cameras on the circuit broadcasting to an international audience.
Mr Sturgiss said that councillors could still choose to have money in future budgets allocated to fund the permanent sign.