Cr Rees was part of a heavy presence of councillors at the festival's annual meeting on Monday night which ended with the council no clearer on how its $100,000 rescue package was spent.

The mayor said he also had personal concerns about a councillor and staff member being on the festival board and expected that issue to be addressed in coming months.

 "People still want to know why council had to put forward $100,000," Cr Rees said.

"The treasurer should have done a report on the finances.

"If the constitution also states that council has to have a council representative and councillor, I would like to see that changed.

"I've got more questions than answers at the moment.

"The event is too big for a small board to run and needs to be run by a promotional organisation or marketing company who can go out and get major sponsorship."

The festival's financial statement for 2018 was posted on its website yesterday in response to questions raised at the annual meeting.

It revealed a $39,619 loss which was up on the 2017 loss of $17,648.

Festival chair Miriam Zolin said she accepted the public's interest in the financial status and defended the decision not to hold the event this year.

"We get a lot of in-kind support that doesn't appear on the balance sheet." she said.

"The decision not to go ahead this year wasn't easy and was completely unavoidable.

"It got to the point where it just wasn't possible."

She said a combination of factors including the rolling departures of event manager, Nolan Media, artistic director Adam Simmons and awards sponsor, the Anthony and Sharon Lee Foundation left the festival with no choice but to cancel this year's event - the 30^th anniversary.

"We really want the 30^th festival to be special," Ms Zolin said.

"I have no doubt in the world it will be back in 2020."

She confirmed some capital city appointments to the board including Brisbane musician Sean Foran, Sydney-based Graham Cook and Melbourne's Max Williams in addition to Peter Adams from Rutherglen and Rod Mann from Wangaratta.

Former festival chair Patti Bullus was also critical of the absence of a financial report tabled at the meeting.

"It's an incorporated body handling public money," she said.

"People are entitled to know.

"Our group still intends to have a celebration in 2019 and planning starts tomorrow."