The money was recorded as donations, but Cr Simms has characterised the payments as loans to candidates who were on his Future Dunedin team.
This was in addition to the $45,628 of expenses he declared for his own campaign for either the mayoralty or to get on to the Dunedin City Council as a councillor.
In the end, he was the top-polling councillor, but none of Cr Simms’ team-mates followed him on to the council and Sophie Barker beat him to the mayoralty by 898 votes.
That was despite a Future Dunedin campaign spend of $158,480, including GST, split between nine candidates.
Most city council candidate expense and donation returns were released on Friday last week or yesterday, but a few have yet to be published.
Ms Barker recorded campaign expenses of $26,467.78.
Cr Lee Vandervis, who placed third in the mayoralty race, spent $16,500.20 and fourth-placed Cr Jules Radich, the defeated mayor, spent $20,711.11.
Information released yesterday included that Cr Benedict Ong’s campaign spend was $44,098.72 — not far behind Cr Simms.
Unsuccessful council candidate Jo Galer — who had been part of Future Dunedin but left the ticket before the election — lodged campaign costs of $38,752.73.
This was offset by a $10,820 donation from Cr Simms.
Rachel Brazil, who also left Future Dunedin before the election, recorded a $6750 donation from Cr Simms.
Her campaign cost was $9383.86.
Cr Simms said there were "fairly robust discussions" about cost recovery from the pair.
Donated amounts included $17,650 each for Andrew Sutton, Amy Taylor and Jarrod Hodson.
Cr Simms said he had a "variety of private arrangements" with team members regarding repayment.
"Some of our candidates didn’t necessarily have the wherewithal to pay all of their own costs," he said.
"So I’ve paid some of it and they’re paying me back over a period of time ... some more rapidly or, you know, more rigorously than others."
Cr Simms said donations were also recorded on the not-yet-published returns of Bruce Ranga and Conrad Stedman.
Future Dunedin ticket co-founder Bex Twemlow recorded $24,120.51 spent — $17,650 in team expenses and $6470.51 of her own expense — and noted no donations.
In Dunedin, a total spending limit of $55,000 applies to mayoral and council candidates in the three months before an election. Any earlier spending is required to be recorded only if it covers goods or services used during the campaign period.
Donations of more than $1500 must be declared.
Ms Barker said candidates who were part of teams could get an advantage, but it was allowable.
She saved for three years for her campaign, she said.
The Future Dunedin team campaign cost included $91,610 to Allied Media.
Cr Vandervis said Future Dunedin’s "unprecedented" advertising spend showed changes to expenditure rules were needed.
Otherwise, only multimillionaires would be mayor, he said.
He had not seen donations made to team members before.
Asked if the donations allowed him to spend over limits, Cr Simms said he expected scrutiny for the amount spent but the approach was not unusual.
"Yes, you could argue that that [gives] people in a team position, particularly a mayoral candidate that’s part of a team, the ability to mount a much broader campaign as a result.
"I still hold we played exactly to the rules as they are.
"If the rules need changing, that’s a matter for another day."
Cr Simms, a car dealer, said the campaign boosted his personal profile, despite Future Dunedin’s disappointing election result.
"My anxiety over that is mollified by the fact that we’ve probably got a ... threefold return from that, in terms of the increase in business [car sales]."
