THE Nadi Town Council had a budget of $20,000 for its initial response to natural disasters this year.
However, this figure proved insufficient as the council was left with a whopping $360,000 bill while assisting in the restoration of public facilities and catering to the rehabilitation of the town.
As revealed by Nadi Town Council special administrator Aisake Tuidraki, the council struggled to cater for the damage that built up during the floods earlier this year.
"For a big flood like this, we only budgeted $20,000 but these two floods cost $360,000," he said.
"And that left us incapable financially to cater for the aftermath of a natural disaster and I think that is why the government should try and help or try and mobilise other agencies to come in.
"As reflected in that figure, that was just for cleaning up. The damage suffered was another story. The total damage to all our properties is $4 million. And our annual income is $3m, so when you look at it, we cannot live with that."
Mr Tuidraki said the council's operations were also becoming too costly.
"There are a lot of issues of Nadi not having a dump site and we have to take our rubbish to Lautoka which is a costly exercise," he said.
However, Mr Tuidraki said despite the rough start, some businesses and residents believed Nadi could bounce back.
"We are back in business and with reopening of the once closed shops it shows that people still believe and what we are going to do is minimise the risks for these businesses and the residents.
"I think this is all part of addressing the challenges that we face and the most important things that we can discuss is coming up with ways on how we can improve our financial capacity."