Last year, the council proposed a tourism rate from July this year on designated businesses which benefited from the industry.
That received an angry reaction from about 80 people at a meeting last month which opposed the new rate.
The council had included the proposal in its draft long term council community plan.
The new rate would not collect more money, but meet 20% of the current cost of running the iSite visitors' centre in Oamaru and tourist promotion.
It would be imposed on about 160 businesses throughout the district, including accommodation, bars, liquor outlets, service stations, those with food licences and others primarily targeted at the visitor market.
At present, all properties pay a tourism rate, including residential and agricultural.
Farmers, in particular, have argued for years they should not have to pay to promote tourism when they do not directly benefit.
However, while considering its draft community plan on Tuesday, the council decided to defer introducing the tourism rate until the 2011-12 financial year.
The move came from deputy mayor Gary Kircher, who believed the principle of the rate was sound - those who benefited from tourism should "pay a bit more than the average ratepayer".
But Cr Kircher also felt the rate needed more work than could be done in the time available to introduce it from July 1.
Many of the people who would pay the new rate also faced the impact of extending the Oamaru business centre rate.
According to figures produced at the meeting, some businesses would face rate increases of up to 192% as a result of the combination of extending the Oamaru business rate area and tourism rate.
Cr Kircher also felt it was "a bad time" to introduce a new rate on businesses at risk because of a downturn in the industry.
"We should give ourselves time to get it right and then implement it. If we don't have it right, the detrimental effect will be huge," Cr Kircher said.
Cr Rod Bidois agreed the principle of the rate was sound, but it needed tweaking.
However, Cr Jim Hopkins warned that delaying the rate would expose the council to two years of argument, pressure and debate.
The outcome may be that the council spends less on tourist promotion, letting the industry itself spend more promoting itself, he said.
Cr Peter Garvan, who had opposed the new rate, said everyone should pay to promote the industry because of the benefits it brought to the whole district.
A feasibility study could be conducted into a public bus service for Oamaru and Weston, even though the council rejected the idea last year.
In September, a proposal from the Otago Regional Council to trial a bus service serving Oamaru, Weston and the Pukeuri freezing works was rejected by the council because it was felt there would not be a demand.
Now the council is proposing as part of its long term council community plan to conduct a feasibility study into a service in conjunction with the regional council, providing it is at a minimal cost.
Putting the proposal in the community plan will give people the chance to make submissions supporting or opposing the idea before the Waitaki council makes a final decision.
At the council's meeting on Tuesday, Oamaru resident Louisa Burrell pushed the idea of the service, which resulted in the council deciding to propose the feasibility study.
Mrs Burrell said if a service was subsidised by the regional council, it was a good chance to trial it.
She acknowledged a lot of Oamaru people had cars, but there were also a lot of older people who did not or could no longer drive.
She suggested using any subsidy that was available for a bus service that operated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with four trips a day from the north to the south end of Oamaru and to Weston.
The suggestion last year was a trial bus service could be subsidised 50% by the New Zealand Transport Agency and 50% from rates the regional council would collect on Oamaru and Weston properties.
Oamaru has had public bus services in the past, but they have not been financially viable.
