The Christchurch City Council's financial chair says his colleagues are being 'mischievous' when it comes to the asset sales debate.

Newstalk ZB has been in contact with one councillor, who claims selling off around $550 million of the city's assets within the next financial year is too soon.

With a large insurance settlement on the horizon, the argument is that the council should stay on its feet for some time.

But Raf Manji says you can't work with money you don't have.

"They're being silly, they know what the story is. The reality is we're not likely to sell $750 million of assets but the fact is that we have to budget for that."