Wollongong City Council plans to spend more on flood studies and floodplain management each year to 2017-18, including a period in which the council's flood management will be under review.
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The council's draft budget shows spending on floodplain management studies will jump to $350,000 per year for the next three years, a significant boost from about $264,000 this year.
While most of the city's floodplain management studies have been completed, the increased spending will be required for those studies which will need to be reviewed.
The Hewitts Creek study is now being re-done, and others may need to be reviewed if the council changes its controversial culvert blockage policy, which is also under review.
Residents of affected areas will be hoping the reviews lead to mitigation works being done.
A council spokeswoman said the increased spending on flood studies would be accompanied by an increase in spending on flood management infrastructure.
"The capital budget adopted in June, 2014 dramatically increased funding of floodplain management structures for future years including major works in the American Creek catchment," she said.
"The draft 2015-19 capital budget maintains this increased capital expenditure in coming years."
Most of the work referred to has been slated for 2015, 2016 and 2017, with the amount increasing each year into the future. Most of the actual work is forecast to happen in 2016-17.
While $130,000 is budgeted to be spent on floodplain structures in 2013-14, the prediction for 2014-15 is $900,000, for 2015-16 it grows to $1.8 million, and for 2016-17 almost doubles again to $3.5 million.
Similarly, more money for creek modifications is planned into the future.
Creek modifications receive a budgeted $90,000 for 2013-14, $150,000 for 2014-15, but then this leaps to $500,000 for 2015-16 and again $500,000 for 2016-17.
More money has been spent on the council's voluntary buyback scheme, where flood-risk properties have been bought up at a budgeted cost of $750,000 for 2013-14.
These schedules might need to be reviewed if the flood studies required it, the council said.
"The review of our blockage policy may result in changes to the allowance for culvert blockage in flood studies," the spokeswoman said.
"The priorities and budget for floodplain management studies will be reviewed, based on the results of the blockage policy review, as part of the annual planning process in early 2016."
The reviews will not be cheap. At last Monday's council meeting, manager of infrastructure strategic planning Mike Dowd said money was available for the blockage policy review but more funding would be applied for.
