Total spending for Southland's mayors during the current term has topped more than $192,000 — not including one of the region’s largest councils.

Local Democracy Reporting requested a breakdown of mayoral and chair spending from the beginning of the term to 31 July 2025 for all four Southland councils.

Southland District Council refused the request due to time constraints, saying the figures were mixed in with other elected members.

Of the councils which did crunch the numbers, Gore District Council’s Ben Bell spent the most over the almost-three-year period, totaling $99,981.

Bell’s main expenditures were for flights and travel — $25,901 — followed by $16,844 for office expenses and $16,194 for accommodation.

A figure of $7,869 was spent on a November 2022 post-election retreat in Cromwell, which was boycotted by some councillors.

Bell assumed there were expenses included under his name which hadn’t gone against other mayors, such as the induction and office expenses.

“I guess outside of the expenses that were incurred in the first year, everything else I would class as relatively normal.”

The council listed mileage costs of $9,308 against Bell, although his salary is reduced for the private use of a car.

Second on the list was Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark, whose total bill came in at $92,205.

A spokesperson for the council pointed out not all costs were directly authorised by the mayor.

Fringe benefit tax and recoveries combined for almost $48,000 under Clark’s name, with the spokesperson saying that included costs associated with the mayoral car, citizenship ceremonies and some travel.

The council also listed vehicle-related costs of almost $10,000, despite Clark taking a cut in his pay for the use of a car.

At Environment Southland, chair Nicol Horrell tallied $52,263. The regional council does not have a mayor.

That figure included car-related costs of $20,567 which were offset in part by Horrell taking a $14,331 reduction in his pay for private use of a vehicle.

On the subject of pay, information listed by New Zealand Legislation shows Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark had the highest salary of the Southern mayors for 2024/25 at $154,815.

That was followed by Southland mayor Rob Scott on $139,906, Environment Southland chair Nicol Horrell on $134,223 and Gore district mayor Ben Bell on $116,154.

Local Democracy Reporting has lodged a request with the Ombudsman for mayoral spending at Southland District Council to be made available.

The council said there were 665 documents and invoices to look through, and estimated it would take between 44 and 55 hours of staff time to gather information before a breakdown could be created.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air