The Dunedin City Council had authorised a total overspend of up to $346,099 for its Save Our Southern Hospital campaign and, as of the end of last month, $175,481 had been spent.
An estimated further $20,000 was committed, but not yet incurred, a report for city councillors said.
This appears to leave more than $150,000 unspent from the approved allocation now the campaign has been judged to have largely served its purpose.
Council staff commented in a report for tomorrow’s council meeting the campaign had "succeeded in convincing government to honour their promise to build all 11 floors of the inpatient building on the Cadbury site".
They also warned "a close eye will need to be kept on developments to ensure a fit-for-purpose inpatient building is delivered".
Responding to budget pressures, the government signalled in September last year it might reduce the number of floors of the planned new hospital in Dunedin or leave the former Cadbury site languishing and redevelop the old hospital site instead.
At the end of last month, new Minister of Health Simeon Brown announced a scaled-back development from the original proposal, but capacity would remain and the number of floors would not be cut.
"The government has listened to the Dunedin community and is committed to build a new Dunedin hospital to deliver the healthcare locals need," he said.
The council essentially claimed victory, declaring the hospital had been "saved".
"Though many details are yet to be worked through, the hospital design appears to have been future-proofed in that the new southern hospital will be able to be adapted and scaled up to meet the needs of the region," the report for tomorrow’s meeting said.
In October last year, when the council approved an initial overspend of $146,099 to cover campaign costs, it produced a list of expenses that included about $37,000 relating to a large protest march the previous month and more than $52,000 for marketing and publicity.
October was also when the council engaged a contractor and it said last week the unidentified contractor had been paid $32,150.
"The contractor has also contributed a significant amount of pro bono work," the council said.
"Much of the SOS hospital advertising has also been heavily discounted or free," the council said.
In November, the council approved a campaign top-up of $200,000, in case this was needed out to the end of March this year.
A November 2024 meeting agenda said creative marketing agency Walsh and Beck would continue to provide advice and support and "the additional funding will also be used to engage a contractor, as the communications team no longer have capacity to support the campaign".
It appears part of this never eventuated.
"We’ve only worked with one contractor on the campaign," the council said last week, without stating who it was.
Of the $200,000 top-up, about $44,000 had been spent, the council said.
"Some of the money was used on events such as the 20 Santas who attended Parliament to express our Christmas wish for the new hospital we were promised," a spokeswoman said.
Much of the activity over the summer period was free or low-cost, she said.
More than $10,000 was raised from the community through a Givealittle page.
"The Givealittle donations were hugely helpful and helped fund activities such as sending [campaign ambulance] Cliff to Wellington and delivering the [November] rally in the Dunedin Town Hall."
The Givealittle campaign is to close at the end of this month.
