Legislators approved nearly $23 million in overspending for Government’s 2014-15 budget in a marathon session of the House of Assembly that finally concluded at 4.15am.

Opposition Members of Parliament criticised several ministers for being unprepared for a debate in which items such as the America’s Cup, the legal fees for challenging Hamilton’s waterfront lease and the fate of the Grand Atlantic housing development came under particularly intense scrutiny.

The $1.479 million for the waterfront matter took the longest: introduced by the One Bermuda Alliance’s Sylvan Richards for the Ministry of Home Affairs, the overspend was debated from midnight until 1.20am.

Grant Gibbons, the Minister for Economic Development, was accused at length of having misled the House for earlier statements that Mike Winfield, CEO of the America’s Cup Bermuda Ltd (ACBDA), had done work for free when Mr Winfield and others were ultimately paid for their work.

Dr Gibbons protested that Opposition MPs were arguing over a turn of phrase, since Mr Winfield had not been paid anything up until that point.

The Grand Atlantic housing development, built under the Progressive Labour Party as an affordable housing project and ultimately repackaged for hospitality after selling only a single unit, was also strenuously debated.

New Public Works Minister Craig Cannonier said the Bermuda Housing Corporation would receive $9 million over a four-year period for its sale, but would also have to work out a payment plan with the bank over the $36 million loan attached to the property.

Mr Cannonier was chastised by Dennis Lister, shadow minister of public works, for coming to the House without adequate figures to explain the financing, while former minister Wayne Scott told the House that the Bermuda Government had effectively overpaid on the property — a total of about $42 million for a property that had been found to be worth about $17 million now.

Ultimately, the supplementary estimates were approved, along with salaries for members of the legislature in the upcoming fiscal year, due to commence on April 1.

Amendments to Financial Assistance, covering the duration of assistance to be claimed by able-bodied recipients, were also passed, along with increases for multi-day passes for ferries and buses.

Parliament closed by adjourning until Friday, May 15.