Declaration comes as $100 million in supplementary budget estimates are presented to ParliamentBy Ayo JohnsonFinance Minister Bob Richards tabled close to $100 million of supplementary budget estimates in the House of Assembly yesterday.But the new Government vowed that it would do a better job than its predecessors in estimating the country’s finances.The money represents spending over budget estimates for two fiscal years — the current one which ends on March 31 and for fiscal 2011/12.The supplementaries are expected to be approved by legislators on Friday.Shadow Finance Minister David Burt cautioned that some of the money may be “technical” supplementaries or budgetary reallocations.“There are some things in here which you can’t estimate for,” said Mr Burt. “Supplementaries happen every year. The levels of the supplementaries, especially for 2012/13, on the initial look, are alarming. But there will be a question as to what is the total amount.“Some of these supplementaries are considered technical supplementaries as money is taken from other places.“So we don’t know specifically if the total figure represents the overall additional spending, so we have to wait until we get the briefs.”Finance Minister Bob Richards told The Royal Gazette that, in future, Government will be taking a “very hard line” on spending over and above the budget.“Sometimes reality tends to make mincemeat of the best laid plans but basically its up to the Finance Ministry to hold a hard line with these things. And that is our intent.”Asked why the 2011/12 supplementaries are only now coming up for approval, he said: “Because they’re late. Last year, if you recall, I made a big song and dance because we had supplementaries that had not been approved by parliament going back five years.“We came here one night and basically caught up, and we were here until about 3am approving things but we still didn’t catch up completely.”Government will be seeking retroactive approval for a total of $34 million in supplementaries for the year 2011/12 — $8.4 million of which was for capital expenditure and $25.3 million for current account spending.For the current year, $63.5 million worth of spending will be approved retroactively by the House of Assembly — $25 million in capital spending and $38.5 million in current account spending.The big current account overspenders this year were Finance, which spent $2 million more than it thought it would at the start of the year, Education ($12.6 million), Health ($5 million), Transport ($6 million), Public Works ($7 million) and Youth, Families and Sport ($2 million) and Government Estates which ($3.6 million).In Education, Government spent an extra $600,000 on scholarships and grants to external bodies, with another $12 million on substitute teachers, and programmes such as autism, behaviour management, school improvements and staff development.Health insurance claims account for all of the Health Ministry’s overspending, while the Ministry of Transport spent an unbudgeted $600,000 on wages/overtime for the Ferry Services, $2.5 million on airline revenue guarantees, professional services and energy costs at the airport and another $3 million on salaries/wages/overtime, rentals energy and spare parts on public transportation.Public Works spent an extra $1 million on the Hustle Truck programme, and $6 million on electrical services, airport disposal facility, composting operations and quarry vehicle maintenance operations.An extra $2 million was spent on Financial Assistance which was operated by Youth, Families and Sports.Government Estates and Information Services accounts for $3.6 million in unbudgeted spending, which went on salaries, building maintenance contracts and maintenance materials.