Total Government expenditure on the America’s Cup has cost local taxpayers $14.1 million as of the end of the year.

This from Minister of Economic Development Dr Grant Gibbons in response to Parliamentary Questions from Opposition MP Wayne Furbert, who asked for a breakdown on costs associated with this event.

That breakdown showed operational and capital development costs totalled $14,145,973 as of December 31, 2015.

Included in that total was $5mi in ACEA sponsorship payments, with another $1,771,246 paid in operating grants to ACBDA Limited.

Operating expenditure totalled $7,134,368, with another $7,011,605 spent on capital development grants. Also included in the overall expenditure was $120,974 in salaries.

Another $170,466 was paid out for consultant services, with $20,372 listed as miscellaneous expenses for event management, and $51,310 for insurance coverage for the World Series Event last October.

Mr Furbert also called for the names of contractors and consultant paid by ACBDA Ltd, in addition to the total they received up to the end of the year.

Dr Gibbons, in his response, noted that “the amount that they were paid is set out in Annex 1”, and “that a portion of this information is posted under the PATI Regulated Contacts on the home page of the ACBDA website: www.acbda.bm“.

The list released in the House of Assembly on Friday includes 15 consultants and 18 contractors paid for services by ACBDA Ltd.

The highest paid contractor listed was Correia Construction to the tune of $371,208, East End Ashphalt received $368,446, and BCM McAlpine was paid $174,502 for services rendered during the course of the past year.

The highest paid consultant listed was Total Marketing & Communications Ltd, paid $255,753, followed by consultant Wendy Cooper who received $68,400. Another $67,394 was paid out to the Bermuda Tourism Authority, followed by $64,909 in consultant fees paid to Bermuda Environmental Consultants.

Responding to another set of questions submitted by Mr Furbert, Finance Minister Bob Richards was asked to reveal the amount of departure tax collected for the years 2013 to 2015 for the months of January through to April respectively. Mr Richards, in his response said a total of $3,245,450 was collected in cruise ship and airport departure tax for the period requested in 2013. That figure dropped down to $2,901,860 in 2014, and climbed up to a total of $3,562,755.

By Ceola Wilson