Tauranga City Art Gallery is running at surplus thanks to a number of art pieces donated to the gallery to celebrate its fifth birthday.

The gallery received a number of works from private donators for its birthday on October 20, 2012, which has helped to boost its operational surplus for the six months ended December 31 to $250,127.

One of the gallery's gifts from Nigel Brown.

Gallery director Penny Jackson told the city council's Projects and Monitoring Committee meeting on Monday the gallery received 39 works from Nigel Brown and his partner Susan McLaughlin, including woodcuts, silkscreen, lithographs, paintings and pencil drawings.

'We were given several gifts, some were very valuable,” says Penny.

The Gallery was also received the following works; Rob McLeod, Landscape with Exotics (2006); Robin White, Florence at Harbour Cone (1975); K. Airini Vane, Untitled [cottonwood poplar and Matapihi railway bridge](1942).

The one-off artwork donations and loan forgiveness amounted to $195,442, which along with a single $20,000 cash donation for artworks purchase boosted the gallery's operational surplus for the six months to $250,127.

The ‘normalised' surplus for the six months is $34,685.

This boosts the gallery above the budget estimate of $25,000 with revenue at $43,000

But spending for the first six months was below budget due to a $45,000 gallery repaint, which is now taking place in the second half of the financial year. Full year building expenses are likely to exceed budget.

Gallery Trust audit committee chairman Gerald Gibbard says the surplus is a very credible result in the current economic environment, including coping with no inflation adjustment to the gallery's operating grant, which remains at 2010 levels.

He's hoping the result for the full year is better than the $32,000 deficit that is forecast.

The Tauranga gallery does not have an acquisition budget to purchase art.