Orange and Cabonne councils will send four and five delegates respectively to the gathering, which will decide how Local Government NSW will lobby the state government for the next 12 months.

Orange will send mayor Reg Kidd and councillors Stephen Nugent, Tony Mileto and Kevin Duffy.

Cabonne, meanwhile will send mayor Kevin Beatty, deputy mayor Jamie Jones, general manager Brad Byrnes and councillors Libby Oldham and Peter Batten.

Drought has been listed as the first agenda item, outranking recycling, rates and infrastructure.

Cr Beatty said water was an issue for most councils across the state.

"We need to get some short-term stuff, but the government's really got to look long term because it's going to happen again," he said.

Cr Kidd echoed the sentiments, saying while Orange City Council had already benefited from one pipeline announcement, councils needed incentives for water-saving projects.

"[The waste issue] seems to have died a natural death but all the money they collect in the waste levy needs to be put to good use," he said.

Cr Kidd said securing more road funding from the federal government's fuel excise was another priority and he would raise concerns about the code of conduct complaints system with Minister for Local Government Shelley Hancock when he met with her on Monday.

He and councillors Duffy, Russell Turner and Glenn Taylor have been either reprimanded or required to apologise for breaches since 2014 but a recent Supreme Court decision has left councils unable to take any action other than censure a councillor for a breach.

Conference tickets cost councils $840 a delegate, but Cr Kidd said it was important for councils to have a voice within the lobby group.

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