The bus inquiry's costs could be brought down to about �50,000

Deputy Roy le Herissier wants the States to agree not to pay the members of the inquiry.

Connex was awarded the contract to run Jersey's buses in September 2002.

Shortly after this, JerseyBus started up its own Easylink service, which ran on busy routes in the summer, often at lower prices than Connex.

Legal issues

Connex took over from JerseyBus after the States committee in charge decided to allow other companies to bid for the contract.

But a JerseyBus staff pay rise meant an extra �500,000 cost to taxpayers as JerseyBus was still under contract even though the work was about to be moved.

There was then a row over whether JerseyBus had told anyone of the 20% pay rise it agreed.

Environment and Public Services Committee president Deputy Maurice Dubras said that JerseyBus had not told anyone, JerseyBus said it did.

The inquiry will delve into legal and accounting issues, but costs for it have been estimated at about �100,000, including a chairman being paid up to �700 a day.

But Deputy le Herisser argued this went against the States' principle of using unpaid experts for such inquiries.

He has asked the States to agree not to pay either the chairman or the members of the inquiry committee.

He said �50,000 would be enough to pay for any further advice or services.

The States was due to discuss this matter last week, but several amendments to the sitting resulted in members agreeing to put it off to a later date.