On Tuesday night, councillors voted to pull out of the group, which is targeted at bringing more residents to Orange and fellow inland centres Bathurst, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Armidale and Tamworth.

Instead, the council will set aside the $65,000 they would have spent next financial year for promotional purposes.

Councillor Russell Turner said the name gave the impression the group had an environmental focus and he was concerned about the lack of state funding and the drop in the number of households settling in Orange from 81 in 2014-15 to 19 so far in 2015-16.

"We've seen a downward trend and it appears to have bottomed out," he said.

"I don't believe the state government is fair dinkum about getting a reasonable amount of people into regional areas - they've got to put in millions of dollars and that's still a drop in the ocean compared to what they're spending in Sydney."

Councillor Reg Kidd pointed out staff time took the $360,000 cash injection since 2010 closer to $500,000 and believed the Taste Orange@Sydney events in Martin Place already did the job of Evocities.

"I've been down there several times promoting job opportunities and people ask what's good about moving here," he said.

"The interesting thing about why people move is one, if there's a job and two, to retire - we've got the retirees covered through things like FOOD Week and on the other side, we're looking a work opportunities through things like Regional Development Australia."

Deputy mayor Chris Gryllis argued reinvesting would lead to just as good or better outcomes, but he and councillors Kevin Duffy, Ash Brown and mayor John Davis outvoted seven to four, with councillor Scott Munro absent.

danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au