The Otago Regional Council's preliminary financial report for 2011 is "looking pretty positive", chairman Stephen Woodhead says.
Councillors approved the preliminary report at a full council meeting yesterday.
However, there were significant project variances affecting activity expenditure, a report to the council said.
The major favourable variances involved the Shotover Delta flood protection project, which was down $595,000 due to the timing of the project, and the river monitoring project, which was down $183,000.
Resource consent processing was down $300,000 and compliance monitoring was down $93,000, mostly due to recoverable expenditure being less than expected.
Regional Services contract recoveries were also down on budget, but unbilled revenue was still being assessed.
Corporate services manager Wayne Scott said the preliminary reports were "financially positive".
Cr Gerry Eckhoff asked, given the Dunedin City Council issues with its council-owned companies, what situation would the regional council be in if Port Otago could not provide a dividend.
Mr Woodhead said the relationship between the council and the port company was clear and based on a "no surprises" understanding. To ensure this, the company provided regular reports to the council.
