Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway has threatened to take away a share of $50 million pothole funding from mayors that complain the amount isn't enough.
The threat came after the Narromine Shire mayor Craig Davies told ACM it was a "bloody insult" and "embarrassing" the government could only fork out $50 million to fix the deteriorating roads.
Cessnock mayor Jay Suvaal called the cash "a literal drop in the pothole" while Newcastle was ruled ineligible for a cut of the funding altogether.
"I would say to those mayors; maybe come and talk to me about it, if you don't want the funding that's fine, give it back and I'll give it to another local government area," Mr Farraway said.
"I'd love to know which mayors they are because they haven't spoken to me."
In a press release, Mr Farraway said the funding would be available to help "every regional council across the state" to carry out emergency repairs.
"This money is only for six or 12 months, and it's just to fill potholes. This is not going to reseal or asphalt roads, this is just to fill potholes," he said.
If each of the 95 councils around the state fighting for funding were to receive an equal amount of the $50 million available, they would only receive $536,000.
"At any given time you can see $70 to $100 billion of government infrastructure being built in the Sydney basin and they want to offer rural NSW just $50 million - that's a real insult to people in the bush," Narromine mayor Craig Davies said.
Mr Farraway confirmed this was the first time in history the state government has helped local councils fix potholes on their road network.
The amount of funding given to each council will be determined by the size of their road network.
"This is in addition to all the work we are doing on the state highways and state roads," Mr Farraway said.
"We are also making the funding available quite quickly."
Mr Farraway said there are three reasons why they are delivering the funds.
The first is to give back to local government, acknowledging they need extra cash to deploy crews, to help keep the supply chain strong so farmers can get through harvest and because of the wet summer ahead.
"Through summer, the Christmas and school holidays when we have more people on our roads visiting family and friends it's important we provide some extra cash," he said.
Member for the Dubbo electorate Dugald Saunders said everyone always wants more funding but this was just a stop gap measure to try and make Dubbo roads safer and more usable.
"Particularly from my perspective as the agriculture minister, it's about knowing we can get some of those major potholes fixed up in time for harvest," he said.
Mr Saunders said the funding was to support councils to prioritise serious sections with bad potholes and get them fixed.
"Into the future obviously there's going to have to be a far greater expansive works program that's set up and that's something we're working on with the federal government," he said.
The rain has been causing havoc in the region, with any chance of fixing the roads diminishing.
"If you start doing major road works it's a waste of money and time because everything is too wet," Mr Saunders said.
With newly developed protocols around pothole fixing and new cold mix products being trialled that will come to regional areas, Mr Saunders said they only last a certain amount of time.
"We know that and we want them to last during the wet periods and then do major road works into the future," he said.
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