Mayor Matthew Garwood says he is not the Grinch regarding light display

City of Launceston councillors voted to waive $8800 in fees that were set to be charged to Max Jago, who applied to close a section of Alanvale Road on Christmas Eve for the event.

Mr Jago said while councillors - particularly mayor Matthew Garwood - had done what they could to help, the council's process for handling the matter was "backwards".

He said despite setting things in motion late October it had taken more than a month to get the final go-ahead, and felt the whole process could have been avoided.

"It's very backwards," Mr Jago said.

"They've implemented this fee for occupation of the road with no actual framework around how it is implemented and when it is implemented.

"Maybe they need to implement a framework it says that not-for-profits or community based events automatically don't have to pay."

Councillors unanimously endorsed waiving the fee on November 30.

Several councillors spoke in favour of waiving the fee, and Danny Gibson said it was "never the intention" to shut down events like Mr Jago's lights display.

Mayor Matthew Garwood said although he in particular had been "painted as a Grinch", he was eager to see the event proceed.

"This process, this fee was never intended to come about to stop or to impede on events," he said.

"It was a fee that was brought to this council to ensure that developers and those who are looking to close roads work quickly ... to ensure that our community isn't faced with extended periods of time with closed roads.

"We do have the community's heart at our heart, because we are members of the community. We want to see these sorts of events."

Mr Jago said he would start the application process for the 2024 event early in the new year, to allow enough time to sort any future issues well in advance.