Albury councillor Darren Cameron has hotly disputed plans to upgrade Lavington Swim Centre were a "secret".
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He said council's plans for the pool beginning with detailed design work costing $600,000 was brought forward in this year's budget adopted in June.
According to Cr Cameron, upgrading the ageing pool at a potential cost of more than $10 million was also in council's sights following the decision to scrap the $50 million Lauren Jackson Centre regional aquatic centre option.
"I'm not opposed to a regional aquatics facility and in fact I would love to see one built.
"But it can't be predicated on destroying the Lavington pool.
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Cr Cameron said due to the "size and scale" of a regional aquatics facility it must be funded by Albury and Wodonga councils, two state governments and the federal government.
"We wouldn't think of building a bypass around Albury with just local government funding," he said.
"These state-of-the-art aquatic centres are incredibly expensive to build and incredibly expensive to run.
"People have to understand what they are asking for here and there are people in this group who just don't seem to care what it costs as long as their hobby is catered for."
In a 2017 mayoral minute, Albury's Kevin Mack referenced working with Wodonga to achieve a "shared regional facility".
"As two cities we have a greater chance of attracting federal and state support if we go to the table together," he said.
"Initial discussions regarding this option have been pleasing and positive and we are progressing them with both councils, as our communities would expect."
Albury and Wodonga councils subsequently entered a joint management contract for pools in the two cities and encountered some early turbulence with plans to charge pool users lane hire fees.
