SINGAPORE – Tampines Town Council emerged as the worst performer in the latest official report card for town councils, showing less-than-stellar results in corporate governance and estate maintenance, and receiving an amber rating.

The Chua Chu Kang and Aljunied Hougang town councils also received amber ratings in one category each, with the former doing badly in arrears management in service and conservancy charges (S&CC), and the latter underperforming in estate maintenance.

These results were disclosed in the Town Council Management Report for the 2019 financial year, which ended on March 31, 2020.

The annual report assesses the performance of town councils in five areas: estate cleanliness, estate maintenance, lift performance, management of arrears in service and conservancy charges, and corporate governance.

They receive green, amber or red scores based on measurable, objective criteria submitted by town councils and their auditors.

Tampines Town Council was the only one with an amber score for corporate governance.

It was marked down for transferring inadequate amounts into its sinking and lift replacement funds for the quarter that ended on Sept 30, 2019.

As a result of the mistake, which was caused by a computation error, the town council fell afoul of the Town Councils Financial Rules.

In explanations submitted to the Ministry of National Development (MND), Tampines Town Council said it had discovered the error and made up for the shortfall by the following quarterly transfer.

It has also since put in place a computation template, and ensured that officers in charge of the task know how to use it, the town council added.

As for estate management, the town council did not fare well as HDB officers carrying out estate inspections for the report observed that there was obstruction of common areas, as well as installation of unauthorised fixtures and storage of combustible items in the common areas, among other things.

Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, which also got an amber rating for estate maintenance, had similar problems.

Meanwhile, Chua Chu Kang Town Council received an amber rating for the management of S&CC arrears as some 40 to 50 per cent of the town’s monthly S&CC due for collection had been overdue.

To get a green rating, town councils must keep this overdue amount below 40 per cent, and also have less than four in 100 households in arrears for three months or more.

The report, which is released by the MND, was delayed this time around as town councils were given more time to submit their audited financial statements and corporate governance checklists due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

More on this topic

The MND said in a statement on Monday (March 15) that in view of the circuit breaker period imposed last year to curb the spread of the coronavirus, town councils were allowed to submit these documents two months later on Nov 30 last year, instead of Sept 30 last year.

“As a result, the presentation of the TCs’ financial statements to the Parliament and the finalisation and publication of the FY2019 Town Council Management Report results have been delayed,” added the MND.

The MND also announced that it will not be publishing a town council management report for financial year 2020 as it has suspended the assessment of town councils for the period of April last year to March this year.

“This is in view of the disruption faced by the town councils during the circuit breaker period, as well as the changes to the town councils following GE2020 in July last year. The suspension also allows for clear accountability of the results when the TCMR assessment resumes from FY2021 (from April 2021),” it added.

From next year, MND will publish two reports: One will cover operational indicators such as estate cleanliness, estate maintenance, lift performance and S&CC arrears management, and will be published in May or June each year; the other will cover corporate governance and will be published in November or December each year.

The reports will account for the new town areas and will cover 17 town councils.

Join ST’s Telegram channel here and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Source: Read Full Article