Tens of thousands of information pamphlets on this year’s Budget were produced at a cost to taxpayers of almost $15,000, the Senate was told yesterday.Junior Finance Minister David Burt revealed in response to written parliamentary questions from Opposition Senator Michael Fahy that 36,000 pamphlets were produced for about $14,850.Sen Burt said the pamphlets were part of Government’s commitment to an Open Budget process and were distributed, beginning in March, at various Open Budget town hall meetings.He said there were 4,000 pamphlets produced apiece on the overall 2012/12 Budget, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Tourism and Business Development and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. There were 2,000 pamphlets produced apiece for all other Ministries.The Junior Minister said, in his written response, that the cost of the literature would be shared among the various Ministries.Earlier this month, the One Bermuda Alliance criticised the pamphlets, which each picture a Cabinet Minister and information on Ministry funding for this fiscal year, as Government “electioneering”.Sen Fahy’s party colleague Mark Pettingill said the brochures were campaign documents, which should have been paid for by the Progressive Labour Party, not taxpayers.But the PLP questioned why the OBA — “a party that is supposedly committed to transparency” — would condemn the release of Budget information.Sen Fahy tabled parliamentary questions in the Upper Chamber, asking:l how many pamphlets were being distributed to households;l how many were being distributed by each Ministry;l the specific postal zones where they were being distributed;l the total cost to Government for design, print and distribution; andl how the cost would be funded.Sen Burt replied that the Department of Communication and Information Services was asked to create pamphlets identifying the overall budget for each government Ministry.“The design and layout was done by DCI Creative Services team,” he said. “The pamphlets were printed by Island Press.”The Junior Minister said: “Excess pamphlets were distributed to the post offices, where some were mailed to residents. There is no specific breakdown by postal code available.“The important point, as per the Open Budget initiative, was to share the information with as many citizens as possible in a cost effective manner.”He said Government set aside $2.1 million in this year’s Budget for printing.Sen Fahy said Government was “clearly using taxpayers’ funds to produce electioneering pamphlets”. “It’s electioneering by stealth,” he added.An Island Press spokesman told this newspaper a set of 14 different Budget brochures were produced for Government.“There were two sizes of brochure and varying quantities for each Ministry and a total of 36,000 brochures,” he said in an e-mail.“From a printing imposition perspective, there were economies generated by combining some of the larger brochures on litho press sheets and printing some of the smaller brochures digitally, and the price of the total project is correct.”Senator Burt said: “It is sad that the OBA is attempting to turn unprecedented budget transparency in budgeting into a political football.“This Government believes that educating people about the Budget is a good thing. It’s clear that Michael Fahy and the OBA want Bermudians uninformed about what’s in the budget so that they can mislead people.“These educational pamphlets make it crystal clear that Government cannot simply engage in the OBA fairy tale solution of cutting ministerial salaries, travel and 'cutting consultants' and magically balance the budget. We’re sorry that Michael Fahy and the OBA are allergic to the facts, but, we believe it is the responsibility of the government to let the public know the truth about what’s really in the Budget.“This is transparency. The OBA is opposed to it when it doesn’t allow them to perpetuate their misinformation.”Useful website: www.parliament.bm.