"Where we are at now is bigger, better and delivering more than we anticipated at the start," he said.
He noted that a significant proportion of operational funding, 42 per cent, had been raised through sponsorships and grants, including negotiating the renewal of the Higgins sponsorship of $50,000 per annum.
This was on top of ongoing support from the Smith family of Pak'nSave Hastings who have committed a total $500,000 in extending the sponsorship of the Netball Centre until 2025.
Over the last three years, however, the trust had put $231,000 into the Festival of Hockey, and a report noted that if the council did not make the extra annual contribution the trust would be in a cash deficit position of $42,000 for 2016/2017, increasing to $394,000 in 2020/21.
It was, however, developing an asset management plan for future maintenance and renewal requirements, and its reserve for this purpose was $50,600 as of June 30 this year.
Sports Park trust chairman Rex Graham said there had been a budget for the hockey, but if the trust had not contributed the festival would probably not have happened.
He also noted that the council contributed 30 per cent of the revenue stream to the park, compared to 42 per cent from private investors and 28 per cent from park users.
"We have been very aggressive when approaching private investors and raised $250,000 last year. If the council gives us $75,000 it will bring their input up to 38 per cent. We were hoping to cover this with other funding but it's not looking too good."
The issue of how much the user paid would be something that would probably need to be looked at in the future, he added.
"If ratepayers are paying they are contributing, but user pays is probably going to be an issue we need to think about as a community."
The council agreed to include the increase in the draft 2017/18 annual plan and the draft 2018/28 long-term plan, and also approved the trust developing a temporary strength and conditioning facility at the park, in conjunction with the Hawke's Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust.