The Waitaki District Council will put that question to people next year.
The 90m-long Victorian wharf, with its Australian hardwood cross-bracing and curved base, has been closed to the public for years because of its dangerous state and is almost beyond saving.
Restoring the wharf could cost up to $1.5 million and the council is not sure how to pay for it.
The issue went to the council's committee of the whole meeting this week, with a mixed reaction from councillors over whether it should be saved or left to deteriorate.
The committee recommended the council maximise the community's opportunity to obtain funding and preserve the wharf, identifying how much it was prepared to contribute.
But how much remains a mystery. That will be determined as part of the council's 2012-22 long-term plan, which will then be subject to submissions from the public.
Through that submission process, the council is hoping to get some indication how much public support there is for preserving the wharf.
Apart from its construction, the wharf is historically important because it was opened in 1884 specifically for New Zealand's emerging frozen meat industry, which began at Totara Estate, south of Oamaru.
But the wharf had now reached a "tipping point", the council's corporate services group manager, Carolyn Carter, said. "Partial collapse of the structure can be expected," possibly within a year.
At the committee meeting, Cr Geoff Keeling described the wharf as "a liability". Somewhere, people needed to draw a line between what could be afforded and what could not.
Ratepayers could not afford projects like this, he said.
But Crs Helen Stead and Sally Hope both urged a more positive approach, pointing out the preservation could cost less than the $1.5 million.
That could be done in a variety of ways, by reassessing the work that was needed or using volunteers and demolition timber.
"There are other options that need not cost millions," Cr Hope said.
