Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher admits it was "definitely unfortunate" a full trademark search was not done on the proposed logo.
The new logo was very similar to sustainable wool business Woolchemy, leading to issues around copyright infringement.
Mr Kircher said the logo was just part of the whole development of the "The Waitaki Story".
The full trademark search should have been done "and it would have sorted this out before it got to the point it did".
The Waitaki Story design and branding development, by Wellington-based consultants Story Inc and Ocean Design, included thousands of hours of consultation and engagement with stakeholders including community and business organisations, iwi, council and 10-day public consultations last month in 10 townships.
Mr Kircher said there was "broad opportunity" for people to have their say and logos and slogans were "often controversial".
"You will never get everyone happy with whatever comes out, but it’s certainly to try to get something that has meaning, and understands and identifies, with our location and the district."
Mr Kircher said the budget allocated for the Waitaki Story and logo came from Tourism Waitaki’s $100,000 "leftover funds" and was "within the budget" at about $95,000.
It was important to note there had been "no breach of copyright" and that sustainable wool company Woolchemy had been "very good" about the mistake, he said.
The Taxpayers’ Union was highly critical of the council’s actions.
Local government campaigns manager Sam Warren said in a statement it was a "crazy" amount of money wasted on a logo that arguably already existed.
Meanwhile, rates in Waitaki have increased a "whopping" 13.73% on average this year alone, he said.
"My advice is for council to ditch the expensive brand refresh and work on getting rates down for Waitaki locals," Mr Warren said.
Mr Kircher said the council’s economic and community development teams were already "well on their way" to re-engaging the design consultancy to give the council "two or more logo options" at "no cost".
The next step would be a tender process for the entrance signs to both the district and its towns, he said.
