A report to councillors said an extra $200,000 in funding was needed to keep the campaign running through to the end of the Christmas break.
If approved at Monday’s Dunedin City Council meeting that will bring the total funding for the campaign to $346,099.
In the report to councillors, governance manager Clare Sullivan said given the council’s clear public position in supporting the campaign, the extra $200,000 would need to be approved.
"Having approved budget means staff will be able to respond quickly if things change," she said.
The campaign was outside usual expenditure, unbudgeted and classified as sensitive expenditure.
"Staff are working hard to cover some of the costs from existing budgets — [approving the extra budget] aligns with the values of the community, evidenced by 35,000 people supporting the public march."
Additional funding would also be used to pay for a contractor to handle communications as the council communications team no longer had the capacity with their upcoming programme of work.
On October 30 the council approved funding of $146,099 for the campaign and it was signalled then that more would be needed.
"The campaign involved a variety of elements including a large protest march, media advertising, billboards, Cliff the ambulance and most recently a town hall rally was held with over 1000 people attending and more viewing it online," Ms Sullivan said.
"If the current budget is approved, the total expenditure will now be $2.60 per ratepayer."
