Opposition legislator Julian Fraser raised those concerns during the First Sitting of the Second Session of the Fourth House of Assembly earlier this month.

“Our budget for 2019 was somewhere about $360 million and I am personally not satisfied with the services being rendered for this $360 million,” Fraser said.

He continued: “I am, [therefore], putting accounting officers on notice that when they come to Standing Finance [Committee], I would like to see what monies were spent for each subhead and what these monies were spent for. So don’t waste our time when you come here and we ask the question, and you go, ‘Um, um, and um’, and ‘I will get it back to you’. Bring it with you. I think it is a disservice to the government for having budgeted all this money.”

We got it done on smaller $$

The senior legislator said the territory was able to see and reap benefits with much smaller budgets in the past.

He said these benefits include maintenance of roads and other public infrastructure.

“I remember when I got elected, and this money was somewhere about $119 million and the services that we are getting far outstretches what we are getting right now. We had retirees cleaning roads. That is not happening now. The potholes - we are not getting it done. I am talking about throughout the year, these services are not happening.”

“Government facilities were properly maintained it’s not happening now so I want to know how is it that when we had a budget of $119 million, the territory hasn’t gotten any bigger. The bush not growing any faster and the services that we were getting is not there. Where is the money going?” Fraser questioned.

The budget announced for the 2020 fiscal year is $414,008,611.