The NPA spent $1 million on its 2008 civic election campaign but got only four candidates elected, according to financial documents filed at city hall Tuesday afternoon.

The amount is $157,000 less than the party spent in the 2005 campaign when the NPA won the mayor's seat and majorities on council, school board and park board.

"We've got no debt, we're pretty happy about that," said NPA president Michael Davis, noting the party has a surplus of $3,567.

The $1-million tab in 2008 was for the party's central campaign and does not include money spent by its 27 candidates, including the $402,000 by NPA mayoral candidate Peter Ladner.

Realtor Bob Rennie made the biggest contribution to the NPA's central campaign with a $35,000 in-kind donation for advertising. Second to him was former NPA mayor Sam Sullivan, who donated $16,668 at the party's 2007 fundraising dinner.

Sullivan made the donation before he lost the party's mayoral nomination to Ladner in June 2008. Ladner later lost the mayor's race to Vision Vancouver's Gregor Robertson.

Developer Robert Macdonald donated $15,086 and Concord Pacific Group wrote cheques for $14,586. Macdonald and Concord have given money to Vision in previous campaigns.

Other big donors included Lululemon Athletica founder Dennis (Chip) Wilson who gave $14,000 while Jim Pattison Industries donated $10,000. Various developers, including Delta Land Development Ltd., Hollyburn Properties Inc. and Orr Development Corp. gave $5,000 each.

Unlike previous campaigns, the NPA's central campaign did not accept money from casino companies. That's because Ladner told party staff during the campaign that he didn't want to be beholden to casino operators.

Of the $1 million raised, more than $290,000 came from candidate contributions, including $45,000 from Ladner. Another $282,000 was raised at the party's two dinners in 2007 and 2008.

The party's biggest expense was $523,983 in advertising followed by a $164,139 tab to pay staff and $100,032 in research and polling.

Davis said the cost of the campaign was comparable to the party's previous campaigns. But, he said, the party executive will likely discuss whether spending limits are needed in Vancouver civic politics.

"We would like to see some clear rules on disclosure and we would like to see some limits on the amounts that individuals, businesses and unions can donate," he said. "We haven't discussed what those limits should be and we haven't discussed any sort of overall cap on spending, so I can't really comment."

Though a large percentage of the NPA's money came from developers, Davis noted that Vision Vancouver and COPE received donations from developers in previous campaigns.

"The fact is they're very interested in civic level politics, so they tend to be the ones who contribute," he said of developers. "But to me, the bigger issue is that you have a broad base of supporters and that no one supporter is paying your entire campaign, half your campaign or a quarter of your campaign."

Other notable donors to the NPA's central campaign included Imperial Parking Corp. ($7,500), Botox doctors Jean and Alastair Carruthers ($1,000), Bing Thom Architects ($1,000), Allen Lai of Henderson Developments, which manages Tinseltown ($5,250), former parks commissioner and Vision mayoral nomination contender Al De Genova ($2,100) and Telus ($4,500).

Former mayor Philip Owen gave $100 and the late Bob Ackles of the B.C. Lions spent $392 at a dinner. Music promoter Sam Feldman gave $500.

Candidates who ran in the Nov. 15 civic election must disclose their campaign finances by Monday, March 16. As of Thursday, neither Vision nor COPE had filed their documents.