Local farmers have revealed the true cost of current dry conditions on their livelihoods - before the added impost of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund.
Cr Ben Lucas shared the stories of three farmers at Wednesday's council meeting.
"This is just a few issues from a few farmers," Cr Lucas said. "There are so many more stories in the community and so many more stories in this room."
"Adding another tax will only hurt these people even more," he said. "And, it could bring our largest ag industry to its knees."
Farmer A:
Lives on a 1000-acre property and has a herd of 1000 dairy cattle. The farmer pays $10,000 per year in rates for one property and $60,000 for another located within the PSP area.
"This season is uncharacteristically dry and he is already under the pump," Cr Lucas said.
Farmer B:
Owns a 200-acre farm and leases 300-acres at an adjoining property, running 600 dairy cattle. The farmer pays $9000 per year in rates.
His main concern is the $200,000 of feed that would need to be brought in by the end of the year just to stay afloat.
"This bloke is very much worried about the farming industry in general," Cr Lucas said. "And when I asked him on a human level, 'how are you coping mate', he goes, 'well I'm going to see the bank manager tomorrow', and laughed it off."
Farmer C:
Lives near Trafalgar and pays more than $30,000 in rates.
He normally has 400kg of dry feed in the paddock per hectare and the month of May provides an average 14mm of rainfall.
Currently, he has 160kg of dry feed per hectare - less than half - and May has provided just 1mm of rain.
Cr Lucas said the Gippsland dairy industry employed more than 6000 people across 1028 farms, producing 1.9 billion litres of milk per year at a farm gate value of $1.3 billion.
In addition, dairy processing employs an extra 3600 people and dairy product exports were valued at $804 million.
Whilst thanking the state government for offering $29.4 million in drought relief since September last year, Cr Lucas said it was important to provide context compared to the $150 million spent on one level crossing removal project.