“Whereas I haven’t pushed as hard on this as I might have, Libby has her teeth in the issue the whole time,” Cr Quilty told Monday’s council meeting.

“She’s kept worrying at it, refused to let it go even when she was being sneered at and I think events have well and truly vindicated her on the subject.”

Cr Hall said her concerns about the levy’s amount were dismissed in a council briefing in April 2017.

She said that staff did not tell her how much that figure was or reveal how long the overcharging had occurred or where funds went until last month.

“To say we were informed is just not true,” Cr Hall said.

The Victorian Ombudsman last month found Wodonga Council had been improperly applying the waste levy and spending its surplus on inappropriate items.