Tamworth Regional Council's quarterly budget review has revealed the airport lost more than $500,000 after another blow to passenger numbers with the arrival of the Omicron variant.

For now, it's limping along on cash reserves and mayor Russell Webb said the future remains uncertain.

"Nobody can afford to lose any amount of money, but you have to understand that during this pandemic a lot of problems have been imposed on us by things that are completely out of our control," he said.

"We have to try to work our way through all of those challenges like any other business does, and there's a lot of businesses that have lost money due to the pandemic.

"We have to work our way through a program where we can actually recover, and then put some of that money back in the bank that we've lost in the past."

The state of the council's budget is technically sound, thanks to an increase in unrestricted cash, combined with a significant boost in grants.

Read also:

But, the council lost more than $137,000 in unrestricted funds due to remediation works at Ray Walsh House, a $70,000 hit to tourism, a $40,000 lack of bookings at the entertainment venues and $35,000 spent removing tree stumps.

The full impact of the festival postponement won't be known until the next budget review, but the council is hopeful it can recover some funds through the state government's Event Saver Program.

The water fund also took a hit with uncertain income due to a mild summer and higher than usual rainfall.

The mice plague didn't help, costing the council more than $20,000 in repairs at the airport and the Australian Livestock Events Centre.

Meanwhile, the sewer fund is well-placed to meet loan repayments and can help to put away funds for capital works.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: