With four months left in the fiscal year, the island's parish councils have already used up 92 per cent of their budget and will likely have to get a boost from central Government.

This was revealed yesterday during a meeting of Parliament's Public Administration and Appro-priations Committee.

In the 2008-2009 Budget, parish councils were allocated a combined $1.5 billion.

Calvert Thomas, director of revenue enhancement and resource mobilisation in the Department of Local Government, said the parish councils' budget had almost been depleted because they had to fund increases in salaries, pensions, travelling and payments for councillors.

However, Dr Morais Guy, Opposition member, argued that the payment of salaries could not cause 92 per cent of the budget to be used up.

Budgeted for

Carl Young, principal finance officer in the department of local government, further explained that $585 million was spent on street lights, noting that only $200 million had been budgeted for.

Meanwhile, Thomas told the committee that there has not been a significant reduction in staff because of the administration's decision to scrap the Ministry of Local Government and make it a department within the Office of the Prime Minister.

He noted that the department had only sought to fill positions that were absolutely necessary.