No one raises and spends money like Steve Turley.

The Provo councilman spent nearly $50,000 is his successful bid to keep his seat against challenger Coy Porter, who spent just $11,000.

Turley said earlier this year that he would spend $40,000 if necessary to win the race, but a week before election day he had only spent about $22,000 and was backpedaling on his earlier comments.

But after plunking down $24,000 in that last week of the election, Turley again justified the expense. Not going negative costs more, he said, because educating voters on issues takes time and resources. He sent out multiple mailers, which typically run up the cost of campaigns.

Of course, it may have had something to do with Porter running neck-and-neck with Turley despite the huge spending gap.

"I thought that was pretty close considering the amount of the expenditures," Porter said.

The amount of money being spent on campaigns over the past several years has grown considerably. The citywide race two years ago cost each candidate in the $20,000 range and the mayoral race was in the $60,000-$80,000 range.

"I think the amounts we've looked at over the last few races, I think that's exorbitant myself," Porter said.

He's not ruling out another run, but wants to see how the next few years pan out for Provo.

Turley also isn't ruling out anther run, but he's not looking at his council seat. He won't say specifically what sort of elected position he has his eye on, he concedes it's out there and he may not wait until his new four-year term is up to pursue it.

"Have I ruled out serving in another capacityfi No."

Another big fundraiser -- who didn't have as much success as Turley -- is Mark Sumsion.

Sumsion made a second run at a council seat after losing to now-chairman George Stewart two years ago. This time around it was a nail-biter in District 1 against incumbent Cynthia Dayton where he lost by less than 100 votes. He spent just under $9,000, only about $700 more than Dayton. But he also left $8,000 in the bank.

Sumsion said much of that came toward the end, when he would have preferred physical help campaigning as opposed to cash. Even with a second loss, he's hoping the third time is a charm.

"The door's still open," he said, though he's still smarting a bit. "I have no preference and I have no race in mind at this point."