COUNCILLORS could triple the funds originally set aside to renovate the Bendigo Art Gallery when they meet next week.
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Project managers say they are grappling with surging inflation and construction costs affecting plans for the city's most important tourist attraction.
Council officers first flagged the need to up its spend from $3 million to $9 million earlier this year but councillors will consider signing off when they gather at town hall on Monday.
Architects and project managers combing through gallery plans had previously discovered they would need to find an extra $20 million thanks to surging inflation and construction costs.
It has brought the total price tag to $48 million.
Project officers have justified the increase by arguing it would be the most cost-effective budget while meeting an ambitious brief for an innovative and "vibrant contemporary arts hub that is recognised nationally and internationally".
The gallery has been reaching out to philanthropists to cover more of the costs, while state election candidates have made the issue a litmus test on how committed their opponents are to Bendigo.
The Coalition spent months pointing out Labor had not matched its $15.5 million renovation pledge.
Then on Tuesday, Labor outmatched that promise with a $21 million vow it said was more in keeping with revised costs.
The federal government is yet to sign on and the clock is ticking.
The council senses a chance to finish work in time for 2026's Commonwealth Games.
It would need the federal government's cash by May 2023 latest, or all works will need to be postponed until the games finish.
The gallery cannot be closed when tourist throngs descend on the city, the council, state politicians and gallery staff have all said.
The space is simply too big a drawcard not to be part of Bendigo's plans to be the games cultural hub, all the project's backers appear to agree.
Its recent blockbuster Elvis exhibition drew in roughly 200,000 people and boosted businesses throughout the city.
A renovation would allow it to throw a games-related blockbustre without having to put the rest of its collections away, and show off the very best of Bendigo.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
