the 1995/96 Budget, Finance Minister Grant Gibbons told MPs yesterday.

But he told the House of Assembly that, although the Supplementary Estimate was for that sum, savings of $9,8 million in other departments meant a total deficit of only $2.5 million.

Dr. Gibbons added that the Budget for bricks and mortar -- the capital account -- was $69.8 million, of which only $49.7 million was spent.

But he explained that $3.6 million extra on that account he was asking the House to approve was to cover schemes where unbudgeted expenses had ocurred.

And he said: "There was more than sufficient monies approved in total to cover these costs.'' Dr. Gibbons added that 12 of the 20 unbudgeted schemes were directly related to the Government take-over of the old military Base lands.

Moving to the judicial section, Dr. Gibbons said Legal Aid amounted to $330,000 over the original estimate.

He said the total number of cases had fallen -- but that the costs of representation had increased.

He added much of the increase in the Finance Ministry's budget was because of its role in the handover of the bases and the pollution left behind by the departing US forces.

Premier Pamela Gordon said that a bid to get the Americans to pay for a massive multi-million dollar clean-up was still underway.

In committee while debating the various Government departments, Dr. Gibbons said the Bermuda Police Service exceeded their budget by more than $2 million for the 1995-96 fiscal year.

Dr. Gibbons said the overspending was due to increases in salaries, new uniforms for Reserve Police Officers and wages for security at the US base lands.

Shadow Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Alex Scott questioned whether Government considered using the Bermuda Regiment instead of Police in order to save $500,000 in wages.

Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Maxwell Burgess said the Regiment had been considered, but Government chose to use Police instead. And Mr. Burgess hinted that the Regiment may expand their future responsibilities to include marine duties.

Tourism Minister David Dodwell stated that his ministry had spent more than $2.8 million over budget in advertising for 1996' "Let Yourself Go'' campaign.

Mr. Dodwell said the advertising expenditure was spent on the production of a marketing programme and newspaper and magazine advertisements.

But Shadow Tourism Minister David Allen said the $2.8 million was badly spent, and questioned the effectiveness of the controversial ad campaign.

Government Whip Quinton Edness said the tourism industry was in a transitional period, and predicted the upcoming season would be a good year for tourism.

Opposition backbencher Walter Roberts suggested that the Ministry of Tourism needed to spend less money on advertising campaigns and more money ensuring visitors enjoyed themselves in Bermuda.

Health and Family Services Shadow Minister Renee Webb said Bermuda's tourism industry was "in serious need of rejuvenation''.

Ms Webb called Bermuda a "tourism graveyard'', and suggested that Bermuda was "missing the buck'' in terms of providing nightly entertainment and top-quality service.

Stressing the need for product development, she said "It's not as simple as pumping money into marketing.'' Mr. Dodwell agreed with Ms Webb, but said he made no apologies for his marketing decisions.

Shadow Human Affairs Minister Ewart Brown said that millions of dollars were set aside under Tourism Minister C.V. (Jim) Woolridge's reign also.

That was supposed to be used to attract African Americans to Bermuda but had turned out to be "fluff'' and people were pessimistic that the latest attempts to boost tourism was more fluff.

Mr. Woolridge, now the Minister of Works & Engineering, replied that the money was used to develop African American business and the Department of Tourism continued to pursue this. He pointed out that $100,000 had recently been given to help host a conference for black mayors on-Island and said the $2.8 million had been well spent.

Transport Minister Erwin Adderley then opened debate on the Public Transportation Board which overspent its Budget by $1,171,238.

The increase came down primarily to the age of the buses in service which required more maintenance than accounted for, he said.

Staff were often called out at odd times to work on the vehicles which had either broken down in service or were refusing to start.

This led to higher demands on wages and salaries as the staff commanded premium pay for over time.

Further increases were seen in the area of training where staff knowledge had to be updated to meet technological advances and in the area of clothing where equipment for PTB personnel had to be improved to meet standards.

And extra cash was thrown in to repair damage done to buses which were kept in depots at the far ends of the Island.

Shadow Transport Minister Dennis Lister said he hoped he would not see extra cash given to fix damaged buses following supposed higher security at the depots.

Turning to the small business development corporation, Finance Minister Grant Gibbons attributed the increase here to payments made to an ex-employee of the organisation who had been putting money in Government's superannuation account while not eligible.

Other increases came about from a loan that the group had made to a business which was called in by the bank and had to be paid.

Shadow Community and Cultural Affairs Minister Paula Cox said the corporation had to be helping small businesses beyond just giving them loans in order for them to flourish.

Dr. Gibbons agreed and said the corporation did in fact provide small businesses with the other tools needed to succeed.

Turning to the capital account, it was noted that most of the expense in this area could be attributed to the Government's take-over of the Airport and the former base lands.

Health and Family Services Minister Wayne Furbert , the former Transport Minister, explained that would have cost about $20 million which was not affordable considering the number of other capital projects underway at the time.

Meanwhile, further expenses were tallied up at Southside where site security was required along with building renovations, facility upgrades and environmental concerns including asbestos removal. Other capital account concerns in the supplementary estimates were the purchase of public order equipment for the Police and navigational aids to replace those damaged in the hurricane season of 1995.

House coverage continues in Monday's paper