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Photo: ODT files

Southern councils collected almost $10 million from parking during the past year.

Paying for parking may not be everybody’s favourite pastime, but the surpluses from those millions of dollars disbursed across the South have gone towards reducing rates bills, improving public transport services and facilities and supporting community projects.

In Dunedin, the city council collected $6,534,507 from on-street, off-street and leased parking.

That amounted to a surplus of $3,831,913, according to figures released to the Otago Daily Times by the council.

DCC parking operations team leader Reece Smith said the surplus was used to offset the city’s rates bill.

In Queenstown, the district council made more than $1 million from its parking operations during the past 12 months.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC), Waitaki District Council (WDC), Invercargill City Council (ICC) and Gore District Council (GDC) together collected $9,984,184 from paid parking in the 2017-18 period.

A report by QLDC transport strategy manager Tony Pickard said parking revenue was $2.4 million in the 2017-18 year, about $974,000 above what was budgeted.

That meant the council made a surplus of about $1.3 million, which would be spent on projects aimed at getting more people out of their cars, he said.

About $950,000 of that would be spent on new, higher-specification bus shelters with seating, and features for buses such as ski racks, bike racks, litter bins and lighting.

A further $200,000 would be spent on comprehensive new transport network maps, eventually covering the entire district, he said in his report.

In Oamaru, the WDC collected $238,000 from its parking operations, which amounted to a surplus of $53,000 when parking tickets were included.

Council environmental services manager Jason Evered said $30,000 of the surplus was used to offset rates and fund community safety projects.

The remainder was being saved to use on parking-related costs, such as replacement parking machines.

In Invercargill, the ICC collected $664,278.

Council roading manager Russell Pearson said parking revenue was offset by the expenses incurred in the operation, including maintenance and repairs, operational costs, and collection costs.

Any profit made from parking was then used to offset rates, Mr Pearson said.

Of the southern councils,  the  GDC  collected the least, making $147,399 from parking, including parking tickets, last year.

Council spokeswoman Sonia Gerken said its  $77,980 surplus would be used to offset the council’s other regulatory activities.

tim.miller@odt.co.nz