IT'S not quite the Grinch that stole Christmas, but Bathurst Regional Council should brace itself for a bit of a battering this morning.
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While council was widely applauded for its decision to drop fireworks from the entertainment at this year's Party in the Park (while also moving the whole event from Victoria Park to Machattie Park), we're expecting more brickbats than bouquets over its plans for the $10,000 that decision has saved.
While a number of council areas around the state have pledged the money they saved from abandoning New Year's Eve fireworks to supporting drought relief efforts across the state, Bathurst Regional Council is looking a little closer to home.
The $10,000 that would have gone up in smoke and lights will instead go towards other NYE activities, including setting up screens in Machattie Park so partygoers can at least watch the 9pm Sydney fireworks, even if they can't enjoy live fireworks here.
Which is all probably fair enough, but it's still not a great look for the council.
What makes it a tough one for council is that, as is so often the case, the best argument for donating the money it's saving on fireworks to drought relief is much the same as the best argument for not donating the money: That is, it really wouldn't mean much anyway.
Those who would support donating the money might say that $10,000 is just a drop in the bucket for council and the chance to watch some fireworks on a big screen from 200km away is not a great way to spend it.
The money would be better spent on drought relief.
Those who would oppose donating the money might say that $10,000 is just a drop in the bucket for the enormous drought relief effort required in this state and that providing a nice distraction for partygoers is a great way to spend it.
The only question now is, which of those two positions will garner the most support? We suspect we know the answer.
There's nothing to be gained by appearing hard-hearted or penny-pinching at this time of the year and that's exactly where council is likely to find itself this morning.
And it's likely to be more than $10,000 worth of criticism coming its way.
As the Western Advocate said yesterday, in all things political the perception is the reality.
And you can bet the public's perception of this will not be good.