Council officers have been accused of trying to mislead councillors into spending thousands to cover up an administrative mishap.
Aghast councillors slammed a “glossed over” report which recommended £3,000 be granted to train third sector workers in energy efficiency – despite the move offering no benefit to the cash-strapped authority.
Council chiefs admitted a “a misunderstanding” had caused a funding rift between officers and United Nations organisation Cifal.
They say the body agreed to pay the training group £12,000 to educate staff on how to be more energy efficient.
But confusion arose when Cifal claimed the council owed it a further £6,000.
To help soothe the situation, the local authority’s policy and resources committee voted this week to award £3,000 for the organisation to carry out third sector training.
But Fochabers Lhanbryde member Douglas Ross rubbished the motion to provide the funds.
He said: “I find this very strange at a time of restrained budgets.
“It’s a relatively small sum, but these amounts all add up, and it isn’t the council’s responsibility to fund this training.”
Fellow ward member Sean Morton added: “This is not something I feel the people of Moray want us to spend their money on.”
Director for economic development, Rhona Gunn, said the council had been “quite clear” with Cifal that it would pay the group only £12,000.
She added: “But I don’t think that was approached as thoroughly as it should have been by Cifal or council officers, and we didn’t clarify that misunderstanding as quickly as we should have done.”
Mr Morton said a report submitted to councillors had “glossed over” the mix-up.
Mr Ross said: “I find it very worrying that elected members are not getting all the information.”
Officers argued that if third sector organisations were able to reduce their spend by cutting energy use, they would require less council funding.
Council leader Stewart Cree added: “We have been asked to spend this money, and though it’s possibly not our job or responsibility to, it is a good thing to do.”
And Buckie councillor Gordon McDonald praised Cifal for helping the authority cut its energy consumption and moved that the committee approve the funding.
His motion was eventually passed by 10 votes to three.
Cifal Scotland refused to comment on the matter yesterday.