The North's 108 Assembly members claimed almost £4 million sterling in travel, office and subsistence expenses in the financial year ending in April 2000.
The biggest claimant in expenses was the DUP's Mr Gregory Campbell with £47,000, while the dissident unionist MLA for North Down, Mr Peter Weir, claimed the lowest amount - less than £21,000.
Mr Campbell, MP and MLA for South Derry, said the expenses were "not money in members' pockets" but depended very much on MLAs' workloads and the distance they had to travel from their home to Parliament Buildings at the outskirts of east Belfast.
The average expenses per MLA stand at £36,232, which are claimed on top of their basic annual salary of £31,002. Executive Ministers and committee chairmen receive additional remunerations for their positions.
In the chamber, a UUP MLA, Mr Duncan Shipley-Dalton, claimed that one DUP Minister, Mr Peter Robinson, his wife Iris, also an MP and MLA, and the couple's two sons had a joint income from the Assembly of £181,000 a year.
Denying the allegation, Mr Robinson said his ministerial salary went to the party, while his sons were not employed by the Assembly.
He would take legal advice on the allegation which he described as a "complete fabrication", Mr Robinson added.
In other business, the Assembly elected a UUP MLA and the party's chief whip, Mr Jim Wilson, as its new deputy speaker following the resignation of Sir John Gorman for health reasons last week.
The election led to DUP criticism after its candidate, Mr Mervyn Carrick, was defeated.