3. Financial Overview & Performance Variations

Non-departmental output expenses

Non-departmental output expenses include expenditure for contaminated site management and the maintenance of facilities on Crown land around hydro lakes. Contaminated sites is a demand-driven appropriation, and expenditure during the year reflects the level of demand for remedial action. Funding for the maintenance of facilities on Crown land around hydro lakes was spent on completing the upgrade of facilities around Lake Wanaka.

Other operating expenses

Other operating expenses are under-spent largely as a result of under recovery from sales of New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) land. LINZ acts as a banker for the NZTA, receiving income from land sales and refunding the proceeds back to the NZTA. These refunds require an appropriation. In addition, there was an under-spend in Crown forest management, for which an expense transfer in principle has been approved to carry the under-spend forward to the 2009/10 year.

Capital receipts

The variance in capital receipts to budget is due to the earlier-than-projected invoicing for the Central North Island Treaty settlement to the Office of Treaty Settlement. The settlement was completed in July 2009 as projected, but invoiced in the 2008/09 financial year.