The Otago Daily Times has obtained records showing combined spending of $75,000 on koha - or gifts - by the Dunedin City Council, Otago Regional Council, University of Otago and Southern District Health Board.
The university was the largest spender, with koha - mainly in cash - totalling $61,240 since 2007, followed by the SDHB, which has spent nearly $10,000 since 2004-05.
At the other end of the spectrum, the DCC has spent $3704 - mainly in $20 and $40 petrol vouchers - since 1995, while the ORC listed just $620 worth of koha, paid mainly in cash to Otakou marae.
Most of the koha went to local Maori, although the DCC's petrol vouchers were offered to any faith representative giving the opening prayer at council meetings.
The information was released following an official information request by the ODT, and came after media reports earlier this year showing 30 government departments had together spent more than $200,000 on taxpayer-funded koha in the past two years.
However, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said he was ''comfortable'' with the practice, which could be a common courtesy during a marae visit ''just as you might never go to someone's place for dinner without a bottle of wine''.
The practice could also be seen as a payment for services rendered, such as an airport welcome or cultural advice, he said.
''If we paid them the hourly rate that we'd pay any other professional, it'd cost a lot more than the koha does.''
Otakou runanga kaumatua Edward Ellison, of Ngai Tahu, said koha was offered for certain occasions, including marae visits, powhiri or tangi, and could come in many forms - cash, food, trees or other gifts.
It was part of ''a tradition of assisting and providing something small to facilitate a productive meeting and engagement'', he said.
''Traditionally, if you went into another place, or another marae, you would take food.
''To arrive without food is to insult the hosts or be seen as exploiting the situation.
''Cash is the common denominator these days, but traditionally it was food.''
Of the four Dunedin-based public institutions asked for koha spending details, three - the DCC, university and SDHB - released copies of detailed policies on koha, as well as lists of payments and gifts for each year.
DCC staff said the council had changed its koha policy in 1995, and began offering $20 petrol vouchers - increased to $40 in 2010 - to anyone giving an opening prayer at the beginning of council meetings.
Since then, the council has spent $3704.17 on petrol voucher koha, as well as one $50 donation and one $14.17 tree offered during a visit to the Otakou marae in 2011.
University staff would only provide records as far back as 2007, when a change in financial systems occurred, which showed the university had spent $61,240.97 on koha since then.
The spending including $52,785 in cash koha, and another $8455.97 in non-cash offerings, the list showed.
The spending was spread over seven years and 364 transactions, at $168 each, but the annual cost was rising steadily ''commensurate with our increasing number of iwi/treaty relationships'', staff said.
SDHB staff provided a list of more than 150 individual cash and non-cash koha, together costing between $1344.57 and $4309.55 a year and totalling $9464.96 since 2004-05.
Koha ranged from a $13.13 pot plant to two buckets of mutton birds, costing $320, and $1000 given to Arai te Uru marae, in Maori Hill, for housing Christchurch earthquake refugees.
ORC director corporate services Wayne Scott said the regional council did not have a koha policy or register, but did not provide non-cash ''in-kind'' gifts either.
Instead, he listed three cash koha, totalling $600, given to Otakou marae between 2005 and 2011, as well as the gift of a shrub, valued at ''around $20'', following an ORC staff training session.
Koha payments
University of Otago: $61,240.97 (since 2007)
Southern District Health Board: $9464.96 (since 2004-05)
Dunedin City Council: $3704.17 (since 1995)
Otago Regional Council: $620 (since 2004)
Total: $75,030.10
