Information surrounding the dumper incident which involved $11,000 of ratepayer money is raising questions with some residents.

It was a couple of weeks ago when a Tauranga City Council hired dumper rolled near the base track of Mauao. It had an expensive trip out by helicopter.

The council initially claimed 'no one was hurt or near the machine” at the time of the incident.

However, a caller to SunLive says two people were injured, and 'at least one” was sent to hospital.

Confirming there were indeed injuries, council community services general manager Barbara Dempsey says one person was sent to hospital 'mostly as a precaution”, despite the earlier claim.

'He [the contractor] had some scratches. He was let straight out of hospital when we sent him,” says Barbara.

'I guess we were thinking of broken legs or any serious injuries. However, any injury is classified as an injury, including near misses. Our terminology when speaking about it earlier was a bit looser, so I apologise for that.”

The dumper on the rocks shortly after the incident. Photo: Supplied.

Barbara adds the contractor near the machine says he was ‘pretty shaken' to see the orange dumper come down off of the base track, and did fall over during the event.

'We take appropriate action when it comes to injuries and near misses. They are all logged in our system. This particular worker fell over and had some grazes. We took him to hospital as a precaution but he was able to go home and come into work the next day.”

Local tradies seem torn on whether the $11,000 helicopter call-out was necessary.

Both unwilling to go on record, one says a mechanic could have been hired to disassemble it for about $200 an hour.

Another says the fast approaching tide combined with potential tricky spot of the dumper means hiring a helicopter could have been the right call.

Barbara says the number one cause for the helicopter call-out was the fast approaching tide.

'It was an environmental decision based on timing. If we had more time we probably could have disassembled it or craned it out, but we didn't want a situation of a floating dumper in the water.”