Mr Drew was responding to a report by independent financial consultants Deloittes which found the centre, known as the Glasshouse, will cost the community $3.5 million a year.

The $3.5 million figure includes operating costs, maintenance, loan repayments and equipment replacement.

The annual operating costs of the $43 million centre had been projected by the former council to be around $2 million to $3 million, Mr Drew said, with income generated by the facility to result in a net cost of between $400,000 and $700,000.

Public inquiry commissioner Frank Willan put the figure at $5.5 million based on the Glasshouse running as a stand-alone business.

"We all knew that the estimate put forward by Mr Willan was incorrect," Mr Drew said.

"This report commissioned by the administrator (Dick Persson) suggests the operating budget that was initially projected in the Glasshouse business plan was pretty close to the mark.

"It would appear that the more consultant reports that are commissioned by the administrator into The Glasshouse, the more the advice provided to the former council is demonstrated to be correct."

Mr Drew said it would be interesting to see a full independent analysis of the entire Willan report in the same way the two reports undertaken into the construction costs and the operating costs of the Glasshouse were done.

Port Macquarie-Hastings councillors were sacked in February over their handling of the Glasshouse project. The Glasshouse continues to be built.