Legislators yesterday approved $28 million in unbudgeted spending for the outgoing financial year.

Much of the extra monies spent related to Hurricane Fabian and the overspend affected nine Government Departments.

A total of $24,437,170 was current account spending, while capital spending amounted to $3.6 million.

Finance Minister Paula Cox said that Fabian accounted for $11 million of the total extra spending so far.

Another $7 million was spent as a result of arbitrated pay awards and $3 million was a transfer of funds from the Finance Ministry to the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).

The Ministries with the largest overspend were Education, Labour and Works and Engineering.

The Ministry of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety took the biggest charge with an extra $7.26 million in spending.

Works and Engineering spent $6 million over original estimates, while the Education Ministry spent an extra $4 million.

Education Minister Terry Lister said that pay awards represented $3.9 million of his Ministry's overspend as staff were given an eight percent increase across the board. Government had only planned on a three percent increase.

The Finance Ministry also spent an extra $4 million, but $3 million of that was a transfer of funds to the BMA which is taking direct responsibility of collecting licence fees.

An extra $111,000 was spent by the Health Ministry's Financial Assistance department ? all Fabian related.

Ms Cox said the Customs Department spent an extra $255,500 of which $35,500 was for overtime for cleaning up after Fabian and much of the rest was spent in equipment repairs and other overtime costs. She said additional officers had been stationed at the airport to improve service levels. And the Minister said that Customs had had a successful year in law enforcement which had resulted in some more unforeseen spending on travel abroad for investigations and on court appearances.

She warned that the Customs bill was bound to get higher as Bermuda continued to attract more flights to the Island. Materials for repairs to the airport after Fabian were close to $1.7 million, she said.

Fabian cost the Post Office an extra $50,000, while an arbitrated pay award landed it with $56,000 in unbudgeted costs. The Office of the Tax Commissioner spent an extra $180,000 - $27,000 was extra spending on salaries, $95,000 were a result of regrading a number of posts, $45,000 was spent on trainee accountants and the rest went on advertising and promotions and rentals, the Finance Minister said.

And the Justice Ministry spent an extra $327,100. Legislative Affairs Minister Michael Scott said the unforeseen expenditure related to salaries and wages.

The department had to pay the salary of the former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as well as the acting DPP for a period, and three additional lawyers were taken on as trainees as well as four summer students ? posts which had not been budgeted for, Mr. Scott explained.

Mr. Scott, as acting Labour and Home Affairs Minister, also explained the extra spending by the Labour Ministry.

Over $5 million was spent by the Police Department ? $218,600 in overtime for operations at the badly damaged Causeway after Fabian, and in searching for the storm's victims, $3 million in pay awards and another $683,000 in overtime on ongoing investigations and "one off events such as the General Elections," he said.

Extra money was also spent by the Police on communications, other personnel costs, a conference, insurance and supplies. The Police had also spent an extra $135,000 on a promotion campaign aimed at recruiting local Police officers, Mr. Scott said.

The Prisons Department spent an extra $1,043,100, of which $740,000 went on overtime and sick leave.

Mr. Scott explained there was an eight month period in which there were 15 staff vacancies and the amount of sick leave taken totalled 848 man days, or seven percent of the staff. At the Immigration department $378,000 extra was spent, of which $229,000 went into the costs of deporting illegal immigrants. Another $95,000 were on overtime costs and the Department had to pay out $23,800 after losing a writ filed by staff against the Chief Immigration Officer. Hurricane Fabian has so far cost the Parks department an extra $475,500, Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield explained.

She said staff had had to work seven days a week for two months after the storm, costing an extra $331,000 in wages, and $21,000 in salaries.

An additional $56,000 was paid out to contractors and an equal amount went for purchase of materials and supplies.

The airport, which suffered extensive damage during Fabian, had already cost the country an extra $1,455,500, Transport Minister and Deputy Premier Ewart Brown said. The storm also cost the Ministry's Marine and Ports department $238,820.

And Fabian accounted for some $6 million in extra costs at Works and Engineering, Minister Ashfield DeVent said. About $2.5 million went into repairs at the Causeway which took 33 days, wages gobbled up $1.1 million, cleanup costs came to $1.76 million and repairs of Longbird Bridge cost $200,000. Another $80,000 was spent pumping out water tanks at some of the 500 Government buildings that were affected and $100,000 was gobbled up repairing walls and fences, "particularly at the Prison Farm," Mr. DeVent said.

Most of the unforeseen $3,625,250 in capital development costs were related to Fabian. But Government also asked for approval for an extra $1.6 million in spending on the National Sports Centre. The sum includes $270,000 for design changes to the facility, $150,000 in construction management fees as a result of changes in contractors three years ago and cost overruns incurred by the former contractors, and $420,000 due to inflation, said acting Sports Minister Terry Lister. A further $54,000 went to the National Sports Centre Board for renovations to the Centre to bring it up to international standards in preparation for the upcoming Carifta Games in April.