Governor George Fergusson has revealed that the UK Ministry of Defence will pay the salary of the Bermuda Regiment’s new British commanding officer — with taxpayers here picking up his housing costs.Mr Fergusson said Lieutenant Colonel Michael Foster-Brown, the first non-Bermudian CO in the Regiment’s history, would receive the standard salary for a British Army lieutenant colonel, plus allowances.He told The Royal Gazette the salary and allowances were “being picked up by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD)”.The Governor added in an e-mail: “This was agreed well before he started. The main element being picked up by the Regiment is his housing costs, which comes to less than his salary. This too was agreed early on.“The remaining bits to be signed off between Bermuda and the UK Ministry of Defence are smaller items, and some legal matters, but we are (I hope) near completion on these too.”According to the British Army’s published rates of pay for officers, Lt Col Foster-Brown, who took up his post at Warwick Camp on June 8, will earn between £67,999 (about $104,400) and £78,737 ($120,886) a year.Mr Fergusson said: “His actual level of pay is a matter between UK MOD and himself.”The CO’s Bermudian predecessor Lt Col Brian Gonsalves, appointed in 2009, was on $155,353 by the time he retired this year. He did not have a housing allowance or any other allowances.This newspaper asked the Governor to clarify the details of the new CO’s compensation package after Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley said in an official response to a parliamentary question that it had “not yet been agreed or finalised” (click on the .pdf link above to view his full response).Mr Dunkley was replying to questions from his Opposition counterpart Michael Scott, who asked for the details of the compensation packages of both outgoing and incoming commanding officers.The Minister replied on July 12 that Lt Col Gonsalves received a salary of “$152,457 annually only”.His Ministry yesterday clarified the answer, after questions from this newspaper, explaining he was on $155,353.49 because “by the time of his retirement from the Regiment, an uplift as per agreement with the uniformed services and the Government had been applied”.Regarding the new CO, Mr Dunkley told Mr Scott: “The compensation package for Lt Col ME Foster-Brown is the subject of an exchange of letters between the UK’s Ministry of Defence and the Government of Bermuda, the terms of which have not yet been agreed or finalised.”Progressive Labour Party MP Mr Scott said last night that the Governor’s response indicated “a most satisfactory outcome”.Speaking to this newspaper earlier in the day, before Mr Fergusson’s answer was received, Mr Scott said he suspected Lt Col Foster-Brown had been given a better compensation package than his local predecessor.“It was just a question that arose within our [PLP] caucus for me to put as the Shadow Minister of Public Safety,” he said.“We want to know what the comparison is between the two. The question needs to be answered so that then we have the comparison.“I want to get the facts first. I’m not going to speculate. My thesis or theory is that it’s important that we see transparency for the new arrangement, which I did question when it was brought in.“Everyone explained it away as necessary; they couldn’t avoid bringing in an overseas CO. I will eventually understand the answer. I want to understand the comparison between the salaries and the terms and conditions and then it will speak for itself.”The former Attorney General said his questions were important ones at a time when “there are Bermudians who are being asked to tighten their belts”.* Useful website: www.bermudaregiment.bm