A lack of Government control is costing the people of Bermuda millions of dollars, according to Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards.

He told the House of Assembly that a $6.4 million overspend last year could have been prevented with proper planning.

The UBP politician's comments came after Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Paula Cox told MPs that increased pension contributions for public sector workers were mainly to blame for $3.8 million of the additional expenditure.

She said on March 19 that the amount was paid out by the Office of the Accountant General and described the extra spending as due to "Government employer overheads".

Mr. Richards said: "This supplementary is a direct result of the apparent inability of Government to control its size.

"It's amazing — even the Government didn't know that it was going to grow its own size. It is one thing for the public not to know and be unpleasantly surprised. How could somebody not anticipate something that they were going to decide upon themselves."

Deputy Speaker Dame Jennifer Smith told Mr. Richards to stick to asking questions about the overspend and Premier Ewart Brown interjected: "Let's just assume we are incapable and move on. It's in our DNA."

Mr. Richards went on: "When you make a Budget, you are supposed to estimate these things. This is a very important point from the public interest aspect. It is an issue of lack of Government control and it is costing the people of Bermuda millions of dollars."

Ms Cox said Government's contributions into the Public Service Superannuation Fund (PSSF), the Government Health Insurance Fund, Contributory Pension Fund and the Ministers and Members of the Legislature Fund were about six percent over budget last year.

"The primary driver of this increase related to matching contributions for the PSSF, which were ten percent above the original budgeted amount of $28.1 million," she said.

Financial Secretary Donald Scott later told The Royal Gazette that the extra payments into the PSSFemployee pension plan were necessary because agreement on pay increases for civil servants, teachers, principals, industrial workers and firefighters were agreed with the union after the 2009/10 Budget was set.

"The implementation of the settlements required Government to adjust and make whole the legally required matching contributions into the PSSF," said Mr. Scott. "The adjustment included higher current contributions based on the higher salary scales going forward from roughly September 2009 and an additional sum to cover back periods dating from the start of the new salary agreements."

He added: "This adjustment accounted for 75 percent of the $3.8 million supplementary estimate. The adjustment to the matching contributions into the PSSF occurred in September 2009 and February 2010."

Ms Cox told the House that 100 temporary staff were taken on across various ministries and departments last year but admitted that wasn't a significant aspect of the overspend.

"The arbitral awards were the largest share accounting for the increases," she explained. "It was much higher than the three percent that was budgeted for."

She said the Department of Social Insurance paid out the other $2.6 million of the overspend because of an increase in war veterans' medical claims and the number of veterans eligible for pension awards. The Island has 350 war veterans; 75 receive medical benefits.

Ms Cox said the $6.4 million overspend amounted to more than five percent of the original budget estimated for her Ministry in 2009/10.

The amount was approved by MPs as part of the $23 million overspend in Supplementary Estimate 2009/10 (No. 1).