Mayor Peta Pinson raised the matter of the state government-imposed emergency services levy increase.

The council unanimously agreed to support Local Government NSW's calls for the state government to cover the additional $19 million levy increase to local government for the first year.

The council also backed the peak industry association's calls for the state government to work with NSW local governments to redesign the scheme's funding mechanism to ensure fairness into the future.

Local government supports an expanded workers' compensation scheme for firefighters but raises issue with the unexpected levy increase to the sector.

The levy increase spread across insurers, councils and the government will fund new measures to provide better workers' compensation coverage for volunteer and career firefighters diagnosed with any of twelve specific work-related cancers.

Cr Pinson said the emergency services levy increase was a hefty slug on the purse strings.

A council report said Port Macquarie-Hastings Council received notification its emergency services levy contributions would increase by $104,000 for 2019-2020.

Cr Pinson said she recognised there was a percentage that local government had to pay towards these services and with that came the responsibility of workers' compensation.

But she said levy increase was on top of all the other costs of doing business and cost shifting.

"Without these cost shifts, the amount of money we would have and the things we would be able to do with it would just be astounding," Cr Pinson said.

The council noted the increase in emergency service levy costs to local government would be $19 million in the first year alone.

The council's general manager, Craig Swift-McNair, will liaise with Local Government NSW to provide information on the impact on council budgets and the council's advocacy actions.

The council will write to key politicians on the issue.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said the NSW emergency services levy would increase to ensure our firefighters diagnosed with cancer received the medical care and support they needed and deserved.

The extra support will be funded as part of a cost-sharing arrangement with insurers, councils and the government.

Insurers will meet 73.7 per cent of the cost, government will provide 14.6 per cent and councils 11.7 per cent.

The NSW Parliament passed the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Firefighters) Bill 2018 with support from across major and minor parties.

This enables eligible firefighters diagnosed with any of 12 specified primary cancers, and who meet the corresponding minimum qualifying periods of service, to automatically be presumed to have developed the cancer because of their firefighting work or volunteer service.

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