Otago Regional councillor Gary Kelliher says it would be a ''terrible shame'' if any funding cuts damaged the fight against bovine tuberculosis.
Cr Kelliher, who farms near Alexandra, and is a member of the TBfree Otago committee, said there was no room for complacency in fighting Tb, which had previously damaged the country's dairy, beef and deer industries.
It was vital to ensure planned work continued, in order to eradicate Tb.
''And we've got to protect what we've spent,'' he said in an interview.
Strong progress had been made in reducing Tb in cattle and deer over the years, but much more work remained to be done, he said.
He was pleased the ORC would provide another $150,000 in anti Tb funding in the 2015 16 financial year.
And he was hopeful that overall funding would be also maintained to fight Tb throughout the country, although some of it might come from different sources, or be provided in different ways.
Cr Kelliher reported to a recent ORC meeting about an earlier TBfree committee meeting, held in February.
His report to the ORC noted Otago had eight infected herds, more than in any other region in the lower South Island: with one infected herd in Southland, and another in South Canterbury.
New Zealand's national Tb plan had to be reviewed periodically and a full funding review would be made this year.
After the plan review, it appeared that regional councils were unlikely to be involved in funding now.
For the next year most North Island councils were unlikely to fund their regional share of Tb funding, but most South Island councils were doing so.
It was ''very important'' for planned work in Otago that the regional share remained until after the funding review, he said.
The fight against Tb is co ordinated by OSPRI New Zealand, a not for profit company.
And in Otago the $7.5 million devoted to controlling and striving to eradicate Tb comes from four sources: the Government, a farming industry contribution, a rural land occupier levy, and $150,000 a year from ORC.
OSPRI South Island relationship manager Danny Templeman said great progress had been made in reducing Tb, from a peak of more than 1600 cattle and deer herds infected nationally in the mid 1990s, including about 300 in Otago.
He warned Tb cases had surged after control funding was cut in the 1980s.
