In the past four months there had been a "hell of a lot" of underspending at the Otago Regional Council, Cr Duncan Butcher said.
The council's four-month financial report to October 31, which showed how spending compared with the targets set in its annual and long-term plans, was considered at a meeting yesterday.
Among the underspending was about $212,000 (revenue also less than expected by $280,000) in consents and compliance, $120,000 for governance and community, $461,000 rivers and waterway management and $103,000 safety and hazards.
Cr Butcher said it was a lot of underspending in such a short time, and if it continued into the eight-month and 12-month reports, it would have to taken into consideration when developing next year's annual plan.
Chairman Stephen Woodhead said there was often good reason for the underspending, mainly due to timing issues.
Some of the work was expected to take place during the summer.
A lot of time and effort from staff went into planning the work programmes, he said.
"We need to get slightly more realistic, so the targets can be achieved, so we don't come across this problem."
The report also noted the council's contracting arm Regional Services was showing a deficit of about $30,000 resulting from some contracting jobs needing to be re-done.
The number of contracts awarded to Regional Services was less than budgeted by $205,000, it said.
