The City of Greater Bendigo had 24 requests within three working days of unveiling plans to allow people experiencing financial pain to defer rate bills.

The state opposition has implored councils to freeze rates but also demanded the state government pay any shortfall to keep services running.

That appears unlikely to happen - at least immediately - because the government is working through a host of health and economic issues triggered by the pandemic.

"I'll have more announcements to make, but they're not for today. There'll be more support for businesses, households and families," premier Daniel Andrews said on Wednesday.

Bendigo's council is considering "all options" as it scrambles to both deal with the unfolding crisis and prepare next financial years' budget.

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Two mayors and one chief administrators in neighbouring areas are also about to start internal discussions on using their budgets to help struggling residents and businesses through the crisis.

"We don't have a yardstick and we don't have any precedents to look at. What we do know is that are still expected to deliver a whole suite of services," Mount Alexander Shire mayor Christine Henderson said.

Councils rely heavily on ratepayers to foot bills for services and building works. Bendigo's, for example, originally expected to pay for 59 per cent of its 2019/20 budget using rates.

Cutting services would not be as easy as the public might assume, Cr Henderson said.

"We might look at something and wonder why a council would be doing it, but find out that state and federal governments have mandated we do them," she said.

"It's why councils so often get involved in areas that we never used to in the past. And fair enough, but the point is that it's part of what we are expected to deliver and it costs money."

Bendigo's council is in a better position than some some of its neighbours, since it has more residents, its director of corporate performance Andrew Cooney said.

"(That) does provide larger councils with the capacity to be more flexible during challenging times such as this, depending on their own financial positions," he said.

Margins are tighter in and around Maryborough, where the Central Goldfields Shire must help a more disadvantaged region.

"It's really challenging when you have a small budget and little room to move," the shire's chief administrator Noel Harvey said.

Victorian councils could borrow to make ends meet, though big loans could plunge them into debts that ratepayers will have to pay off over the long term.

Councillors will just have to grin and bear it, shadow local government minister Tim Smith said even as he argued the state government needs to step in to help cover shortfalls.

"I don't mean to be unkind to councils, but the federal government is going to have a debt-to-GDP ratio higher, possibly, than after the Second World War and every state government will be in deficit," he said.

"Councils are not going to be able to run clean balance sheets. They will need to take on debt."

Mr Smith encouraged councils to think about what other costs they could cut, including car parking in the state's business districts.

"Everyone in public life is going to have to help citizens get through this crisis," he said.

Live in the Bendigo or Mount Alexander areas? Here's how these councils want to help you:

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