Ongoing construction at Tauriko is providing an unexpected boost to Tauranga City Council's income in the form of development contributions.

Members of council's Finance and Risk Committee were this week told that income from development contributions for the month was $623,000 – some 45 per cent more than expected.

Tauriko business developments are adding to city funds. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

The report from financial controller Kathryn Sharplin says some full year forecasts have been updated from budget to reflect continued growth-related activity,

This was experienced in the first quarter of the financial year and has affected revenue from building consents as well as development contributions revenue.

Development contributions, which have paid in $5.91 million in three months, are tracking well above budget due to large payments by developers in the Tauriko business estate and Papamoa areas, says the report.

Councillor Kelvin Clout's question of whether the increase was because of the new service station, or includes other developments, went unanswered.

The $5.91 million is $1.75 million ahead of the expected amount for the first quarter. Total business from development contributions for the current financial year is expected to be $16.64 million.

The monthly financial report shows year-to-date actual figures compared with what was expected in budgets.

Tauranga city ratepayers are $300,000 ahead of staff expectations when it comes to paying rates this year. The city has received payment worth $33.8 million, heading for a year-end total of $137.1 million.

The City's nett debt is $340 million – some $14.9 million less than expected. The total debt for the full year is budgeted at $355 million.

The operations expenses are also costing less than expected – $44.4 million, up on budget by $900,000. The full year budget is $179.1 million.

Tauranga's debt-to-revenue ratio is 179 per cent, which is 10 per cent favourable to the full year budget of 189 per cent.

Land sales are also doing well at $3.02 million compared with the budget figure of $2.90 million. The city is expecting to make $11.01 million this year.

Debt is below 2015 levels as a result of the sale of Route K. The lower-than-budget debt projection is based on a lower opening debt position than budgeted and favourable projections of revenue and expenditure to budget.