The Mayoral Minute was to say that Council will await the outcome of the auction of the Regent Theatre to be held on 26 March before addressing any potential Council interest in purchasing the building.

This followed three public speakers who represented Revive the Regent who cited the tourism and cultural potential of the building for Mudgee with one of the speakers erroneously citing three regional theatres that they claimed run successfully but in fact run at a financial loss.

Councillor Russell Holden spoke in support of the Minute and said it would be unwise for Council to enter into an auction for the building.

"We had this discussion before - we've had groundhog day a couple of times - I don't think that we want to be in an auction for this building. If a developer comes along and is mindful of all the caveats that heritage listing has put on it then I think that is win, win for everybody," he said.

"Because at the end of the day it has to basically remain a theatre and we will have, again, a professional operator who will take it on.

"In the event that it doesn't sell then we are in a position to make a decision as a Council to whether or not we wish to go into private treaty negotiations, and that has all sorts of complications, including discussing with the community exactly what it is that they want to see and assessing whether or not the refurbishment costs are something that Council has an appetite for and what the ongoing costs are going to be.

"This is not simply run in and stick your finger in the air and go 'that's what we're going to pay for it'. There is a lot more to it and there is going to be a lot more discussion and a lot more debate about this in the event it doesn't sell."

Councillor John O'Neill also spoke in support of the Minute and cited several mistruths he said are often shared by proponents of the theatre.

"The frustrating thing for me is the misinformation that we have - there is a group of people who want to support us buying the theatre who tend sometimes not to bring the facts out as they are," Cr O'Neill said.

Cr O'Neill said that an active change.org petition, currently with 3105 signatures, has a large number of signatories from countries outside of Australia.

"I haven't had a look at them all but I guarantee you somewhere around about 80-90 per cent of those signatures come from South Africa, America the UK. Anywhere else but Mudgee," he said. "Please, if you're going to give us something with a petition, give us something that - if the locals are going to pay for it the locals are the ones that have to put their hand up, not someone in South Africa."

"Going back around about 18 months ago I did a fair bit of research on the Bingara, Leeton and Yass theatres and - I'd like to just point out that not one of those theatres makes money. Every one of those runs at a pretty big loss. So for someone to come in and say 'It's running very successfully', please before you say that, do your research. Make sure what you're telling us is correct, because I can tell you now... they do not run as a profitable business."

Cr Kennedy said it wouldn't be in the interests of ratepayers to bid on the Regent.

"From a business point of view and the sensible thing to do - 95 per cent of our people that pay rates would like us to look after their money as best we can and I feel at this stage of proceedings, with the way it is now this is the best approach for Council," Cr Kennedy said.

All councillors voted to support the Mayoral Minute except Councillor Percy Thompson who voted against.

The theatre will again be up for auction, to be sold on March 26 by Mudgee First National Real Estate.