SINGAPORE – All 17 town councils here, save one, received green ratings across the four assessment areas in the latest town council management report (TCMR) released by the Ministry of National Development (MND) on Thursday.
Sengkang Town Council (SKTC) was the only one with a lower rating in the latest report, for its performance in managing service and conservancy charges (S&CC) arrears. This is down from three town councils in the previous financial year.
MND said SKTC had been given the amber rating as slightly more than 40 per cent of the town’s monthly S&CC was overdue.
A green rating is given to town councils with less than 40 per cent of the town’s monthly S&CC overdue and fewer than four in 100 households in arrears for three months or more.
The operational report on Thursday covers the 2022 financial year (FY) from April 2022 to March 2023.
Town councils are given green, amber or red ratings across four categories based on measurable and objective criteria submitted by them and their auditors.
The other areas that they are assessed on are estate cleanliness, estate management and lift performance, for which all the town councils received green ratings, as they did in the last report.
When reached for comment, a spokesman for SKTC said the town council had been working very closely with its residents to manage the collection of the monthly charges.
Noting that MND’s rating captures an average over the 12 months in the financial year, the spokesman said the town council had steadily improved its management of arrears in recent months.
“(SKTC moved) from the lower end score of the amber band in FY2021 to the upper end in FY2022,” he said. On the same criteria but measured monthly, the town council would have been in the green band since December 2022, he added.
“SKTC remains focused on designing repayment schemes that are practicable for our residents, taking into account their personal circumstances as well as the economic environment,” he said.
Chua Chu Kang Town Council and Jurong-Clementi Town Council, which both received amber ratings in the FY2021 report for S&CC arrears management, improved and were rated green in the latest report.
This is the second year the TCMR has been split into two parts – one covering the four operational indicators and one covering only corporate governance.
When MND announced the new format in 2021, it said the split will not impact how town councils are assessed but allows for more focused and timely reporting on the different aspects of their work.
On Wednesday, the ministry said the results of the FY2022 corporate governance indicator will be released under the governance report in December 2023, after it receives and reviews the town councils’ audited financial statements and their auditors’ reports.
The previous governance report, released in December 2022 for FY2021, saw two town councils flagged for non-compliance with rules.
The non-compliance involved an under-transfer of monies by Jurong-Clementi Town Council to its sinking and lift replacement funds’ bank accounts, and an incorrect allocation of part of a lift replacement fund matching grant by Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council.
These were first-time administrative oversights that had been rectified, MND said then. Both incidents were considered to be of “low severity”, the ministry added.
