NSW mayors have welcomed boost to fix urgent road repairs

"It is certainly welcomed by councils in regional New South Wales," Cr Chaffey, who is also the mayor for Gunnedah, said.

"With zero support, we would have been in more financial stress than we currently are under."

The $390m tops up the previous coalition government's $280m from the Regional and Local Roads Repair Program (RLRRP), bringing the total amount available over four years to $670m.

Councils will have about a year to decide how they will spend the funding, which will be divvied-up based on the number of kilometres in each applicable local government area.

The funding, which works out to be about $165.7m per year, will be rebadged under a new name, Regional Emergency Road Repair Fund (RERRF), and will allow the 95 regional councils across the state to patch-up potholes, cracks and carry-out other urgent repairs.

NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison made the pre-budget announcement on Friday September 15, saying it will help councils manage their roads and prioritise works "based on the needs of their communities, particularly those damaged by natural disasters".

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The state Labor government's pre-election promise was to give councils two years to spend the $670m on emergency road repairs, but Ms Aitchison said after consultation with "several councils" that timeframe was revised to four years.

"Several councils have approached Transport for NSW expressing challenges with timeframes for use of funding for the Regional and Local Roads Repair Program," Ms Aitchison said.

"Ongoing repair and operational maintenance schedules are also yet to recover fully from previous natural disasters and the COVID 19 pandemic."

Tamworth Regional Council mayor Russell Webb said having the additional couple of years to do the road repairs would allow for a more efficient outcome and to get a better result.

"The supply chain in terms of staff and materials is also stretched," Cr Webb said.

"[This means] we've just got a longer period of time to utilise those funds, and it'll probably work better for all of us because we can't get the contractors."

It comes as TRC also considers increasing rates by 36.3 per cent over two years, with some of that money proposed for road repairs.

Walcha Mayor Eric Noakes said the funding announcement is "probably a good outcome, so long as the money stays" in the coffers for emergency road repair in the regions.

"We are resource stretched at the moment," Cr Noakes said of the staffing situation for tradespeople to undertake the repairs.

"But if we've got a guarantee of the money for the next four years, I think we can plan ahead rather than try and do projects and not do them properly."

Cr Noakes said Walcha received $314,000 from the $50m Fixing Local Roads Pothole Repairs and an additional $1.76m from the RLRRP grant during the previous state government's funding initiative for regional road repairs.

"That last lot of money only resheeted about one twelfth of our road network," Cr Noakes said.

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