A £20,000 bill to a cash-strapped council has sparked criticism and caused confusion.

County councillors were shocked and horrified to hear the council had been charged £20,914 by auditors to deal with one complaint about the procurement of the waste contract in relation to the proposals to build an energy-from-waste plant in Worcestershire.

But after your Worcester News requested more detail about the Audit Commission’s eye-watering charge to the council, which is currently in the process of slashing its budget by about £70 million, it appears all is not as it seems.

At a meeting of full council the Labour leader Councillor Peter McDonald, who sits on the audit and governance committee, said: “I’m very concerned that one complaint can cost over £20,000.

“If we live in a democratic society we welcome complaints because we learn from complaints.

“But what we’re really saying here is that we can’t afford complaints.”

Coun McDonald urged Coun Hardman to get a breakdown of the costs before he said: “I don’t believe for a minute the auditors would rip us off but people looking in from the outside might say we are being ripped off because if there were a dozen people complaining about something we’d almost be bankrupt.”

Coun Hardman, leader of the ruling Conservatives, said he would seek that breakdown and added he thought this issue has highlighted a wider issue about professional fees.

“I think some people have been billing their professional fees in a very strong manner for far too long,” he said. “I have no concept yet of the amount of work the auditors had to put in to rectify and deal with this complaint but £20,000 is an awful lot of the auditors’ time so I intend to ask the auditors when I next see them as to exactly what their detailed breakdown is and how they can justify this bill.”

Despite the bill Coun Hardman agreed with Coun McDonald that complaints should be welcomed.

“It’s only from pointing out where things go wrong that we really know about them so that’s why I really welcome complaints when we’re really failing to deliver services,” said Coun Hardman.

However after the meeting a county council spokesman said: “The figure actually relates to the cost of the audit of the entire waste contract.

“The complaint may or may not have given rise to this but the audit, which was carried out about a year to 18 months ago, would’ve happened anyway.”

Also speaking afterwards Coun Hardman conceded he might have got the wrong end of the stick.