Freedom campers caught breaking the rules in the Queenstown Lakes District have been hit in the pocket to the tune of $117,000.
The district council collected the infringement fees in the nine months to March 31.
Council accounting manager Ian Stewart told the finance and corporate committee meeting this week the council was $619,000 ahead of budget for the period.
The $200 infringement fines were introduced under the new Freedom Camping Bylaw, which came into effect on December 19.
Mr Stewart told the committee the $117,000 was gross revenue and there were some costs, but ''costs aren't normally as high as revenue''.
The council also received $100,000 in ''parking revenue'', largely attributed to ''higher-than-expected parking revenue'' from Queenstown's Church St car park, managed by Wilson's Parking, accounting for $60,000.
The remaining $40,000 came from ''parking meter receipts''.
Finance general manager Stewart Burns said, overall, operating revenue was ahead of budget by $2.6 million (3.9%) for the period.
Operating costs were $2.1 million below budget for the first nine months - part of that was related to ''lower-than-expected interest costs to the council''.
''There are two factors. First of all, borrowing is less than expected because we reduced capital projects.''
Mr Burns said the council had deferred some projects, while others had cost less than had been budgeted for.
The council had budgeted for a 6.5% interest rate, but it instead had a 5.38% rate.
''There were large savings there when you're looking at $100 million of debt [there was] $860,000 in saving for the first nine months.
''We are tracking well under budget.''
In terms of operating expenditure the council was $66,000 under budget in governance, $39,000 of which attributed to no full-time chief executive for the first four months of the year. Underspending in roading resulted in a favourable variance of $486,000. However, that would be offset by overspending in environmental and sealed pavement maintenance, by $80,000 and $125,000 respectively.
An unfavourable variance of $2.1 million in community facilities was largely because of the way the budget for the Memorial Centre upgrade project was approved, $33,000 associated with Lakes Leisure's fast hydroslide modifications, and outdoor seating at the Queenstown Events Centre ($59,000).
Capital budgets in public toilets ($833,000), commercial property ($1.5 million), roading ($18.5 million), sewage disposal ($9.5 million), solid waste ($784,000), stormwater ($4 million), water supplies ($7.2 million), and overhead ($2.5 million) had not been spent for a variety of reasons, including the deferral of some projects.
