Environment Southland this week approved the new joint civil defence services agreement.
But the document still needs to be accepted by the Invercargill, Gore and Southland district councils to be implemented.
Since 2010, the four councils have shared the work of delivering the work programme for Southland's civil defence emergency management group.
The new agreement allows Emergency Management Southland (EMS) to continue to operate in that way.
At an Environment Southland Council meeting this week, Cr Eric Roy asked EMS' manager, Angus McKay, how the other councils felt about the new agreement. Mr McKay said all councils would probably accept it but he still needed to seek the approval of all.
The document said the councils would also share the operational costs, the Gore District Council paying a 9.42% share, Environment Southland a 34.05% share and the Invercargill District Council and Southland District Council each paying a 28.27% share.
If approved by all councils, the new agreement will take effect in July.
EMS recently started a process to set up community Emergency Hubs in a bid to have structures in place so that the communities are best placed to help themselves in the event of a disaster.
