Smooth-running Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings earlier this month limited the state’s safety-related spending to less than half of what was expected.

The government spent $3.2 million, a little less than half the $7.5 million budgeted, Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced Wednesday.

"Costs were lower than we had anticipated because the conference was run so efficiently," Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz, who oversaw much of the state operations for APEC, said in a statement.

State Adjutant General Darryl Wong added that agencies were prepared to spend more to protect people and property during APEC, but relatively few problems kept expenses down.

"The security plan set in place by the Secret Service and local and federal law enforcement officials was well thought out and effective," he said in a statement.

The state’s biggest safety-related expenditures were incurred by the Hawaii National Guard, which spent $2.5 million activating hundreds of guardsmen to provide security, crisis management and other work.

State Civil Defense spent about $84,000. All other state departments combined spent almost $600,000 on operations that included air sampling, ocean security patrols, road closings and airline arrivals.