A landfill fire in January which took 18 hours to extinguish and required specialist firefighting equipment could cost the Central Hawke's Bay District Council $50,000.
At a meeting today the council will be asked to authorise expenditure from the adverse events fund to pay for firefighting costs from the fire.
The $50,000 would then be paid back over a period of five years from the Solid Waste budget, meaning an increase in the budget beyond what is set out in the council's long term plan was unlikely.
Council chief executive John Freeman said the fund gave ratepayers a bit of a buffer if an event of great size occurred.
"You have two options - you have the money sitting there like we do, or you borrow. We prefer to have the adverse events fund but if the event is major we would use the funds and also borrow."