Mayor Charles Gosling has called for a report on the Municipalities Act to be made public after a former Senator claimed Government was “conned” out of $650,000 for the review.Yesterday, former Progressive Labour Party Senator Walton Brown said the review and report were a “colossal” waste of taxpayers' money.The report, completed by a local and an international law firm, resulted in changes to two clauses of the 1923 Act.The US law firm that worked on the report, McKenna Long and Aldridge, did not respond to the allegation.It has told a US newspaper the reforms brought universal suffrage to residents of the City of Hamilton and the Towne of St George; adding it was one of the most rewarding jobs because of the outcome.The company also revealed the report contained six options for reform, including one to absorb the municipalities into Government.Yesterday, Mr Brown who was a Senator at the time the report was compiled but has not seen it claimed in an opinion piece in this newspaper: “Government needs to maintain a critical eye over every contract it enters into and the proposed procurement office has a critical role to play. It should help us avoid examples such as the colossal waste of taxpayers' money on the lawyers hired to advise on the amendment to the Municipalities Act.“Where a London School of Economics professor could have done the work for $30,000, we were conned into dispensing with $665,000 of your money.”When asked who conned the Government, Mr Brown said: “I will let my comments stand without further comment.”His comments echoed ones he made in the Senate in October 2010 when he claimed a university professor could have done the report for ten percent of what Government paid. Opposition members frequently criticised the cost of the reform, with Senator Michael Dunkley stating it was an “exorbitant” amount to spend.Yesterday, Mr Gosling said: “Mr Brown's comments are interesting. The City of Hamilton has always said the report should be made public; I would almost give up my first born to see the report.“The Premier could dispel this claim by releasing the report.”In January 2010 Minister Walter Roban announced the US consultants would work with local law firm Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki to review and report on the Act, draft legislation and implement any changes. He said they would be paid $800,000.Several months later Minister Zane DeSilva assumed responsibility for the review. It was passed in August 2010. More than 100 people marched on Parliament to protest the changes to the Act.This paper asked Mr Roban and Mr DeSilva to comment on Mr Brown's claim and if they believed Government got value for money.Mr DeSilva did not respond.A spokeswoman for Mr Roban said Public Works Minister Derrick Burgess should address the questions.She added: “Irrespective of when a Minister was responsible for a portfolio, it is the current Minister who addresses the queries in the present.”Mr Burgess, not the law firms, has taken over the responsibility of reforming the municipalities.We asked Mr Burgess the same questions but he did not respond.Questions about the claim, report's content, and whether it will be made public were sent to Premier Paula Cox as well.This week Ms Cox told members of the Chamber of Commerce she plans to create “open budget” practices within the next three years.She said: “Citizens must have the right to know what resources are spent on what policies and what the results of government policies are.”She added the new framework would eventually result in a Budget and system where “there is greater accountability for results”.Ms Cox did not respond to the questions yesterday and this paper has not been able to access the municipalities report.According to a source who was involved in the process, Government was surprised when it was handed the report and a preliminary bill of $650,000.The source said: “The lawyers were getting paid by the hour to meet with a wide cross-section of Bermuda. They met with everyone and anyone and they were encouraged to do so. It cost a lot.”Neither law firm responded to requests for comment on Mr Brown's claim.Soon after the reforms were announced, Eric Tanenblatt, who was a strategic adviser on the project for the US firm, told Atlanta Business Chronicle: “We spent several months with various stakeholders, taking the input we received, and gave the Government a series of recommendations. Our role was to present options to them. We let them determine which options made the most sense.”The article stated the Atlanta firm helped improve democracy in Bermuda.He added: “We were made out to be the villain, [but] from a firm perspective, this was probably one of the most rewarding [projects] we've been involved in because of the outcome.”lUseful websites: www.mckennalong.com, www2.lse.ac.uk, www.cityhall.bm