Five SES units have joined forces against a Corangamite Shire plan to halve funding for the organisation in 2016-17 and cut it completely the following year.

Corangamite has one of the highest number of SES units in the state and unit controllers from Cobden, Camperdown, Lismore, Port Campbell and Terang units have made a joint submission to the council’s draft budget.

Cobden Unit controller Jeff Price said without a new funding model his group, one of the oldest in the region, had an uncertain future.

“We have enough reserved in the bank to keep us going at the moment, but after that I’m not sure,” he said.

“We are going to have to start doing some fund-raising in the community to be able to keep running.

​“The unit has been going for about 40 years and it’s a bit hard to think what this could do. We have a few members who have been there from the start and it has been fairly hard on them.”

Previously, the local and state governments have shared SES funding 50/50. However, following the introduction of a 2.5 per cent rate cap, councils across the state, including Corangamite, are phasing out funding of some services.

Corangamite mayor Jo Beard said it was up to the state government to meet the shortfall.

“We believe it is a state service, just like the CFA, and should be funded by the state government,” she said.

Cr Beard said the council had spoken with local units on the issue.

“We are very supportive and appreciative of the contribution the SES makes to our community,” she said.

“We are aware that a lot of other councils are completely cutting their funding this year. We’re not doing that… This will give us some time to advocate for them.”

Mr Price said the volunteer units relied on outside funding to cover the cost of fuel and maintenance for its vehicles and equipment.

“We’re a volunteer group that responds road crash rescues, storms, trees down on roads and on houses and searches for missing people,” he said.

In its submission, unit controllers questioned whether Corangamite would actually save money under their new plan as some of its current duties, such as removing fallen trees, which has accounted for 327 call-outs in the past five years, could fall back on the council.

“It needs to be understood that SES members are volunteers and are not paid to attend these call-outs. If not for SES some units, some services may fall to council. Council would need to pay council employees penalty rates to attend call-outs, which quite often occur outside normal business hours,” the submission said.

The submission calls for the council to hold off on its cuts and “investigate alongside SES units ways in which it can recover costs for service”.

“Now is the right time to seek reform in funding models to minor emergency services organisations across Victoria,” it states.

The chief of SES Victoria has called on councils to honour their funding agreements. State Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett has said current funding arrangements were being reviewed.