Aljunied-Hougang receives red rating in S&CC arrears
SINGAPORE - The latest report on the performance of all the 15 town councils here has raised a red flag on Aljunied-Hougang Town Council's (AHTC) management of Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) arrears.
The Town Council Management Report, which was released yesterday, covered the period between April and September.
It is the fourth edition of the report - which was introduced in 2010 - and for the first time, the report used colour-coded bands to reflect performance. Green is the top grade, followed by amber, and then red.
The AHTC, run by the Workers' Party, received a red rating for its management of S&CC arrears. Nevetheless, it achieved either a green or amber rating for three other indicators.
Apart from cleanliness, maintenance, lift performance and S&CC arrears management, the latest report introduced a fifth indicator, Corporate Governance, for which it was unable to give a rating for AHTC because the town council "has yet to submit their auditor's Management Letter, which is material to the banding of the corporate governance indicator", the Ministry of National Development said.
The corporate governance indicator measures whether a town council has in place rules for governance and financial management, and whether it has complied with these.
Explaining the delay, AHTC Chairman Sylvia Lim said the audit of the town council took "longer than expected" due to the need to develop a new computer and financial system from scratch, after it took over the running of Aljunied GRC following its victory in the General Election in May last year. She added that the town council was in the midst of finalising the Management Letter.
The setting up of the financial system took priority over managing S&CC arrears, but the town council would be focused on it going forward and a "stringent arrears management process" has been set up, Ms Lim said.
According to the report, more than 5 per cent of AHTC's households had S&CC arrears overdue for three months or more. Also, more than half of its monthly S&CC collectible was overdue for three months or more. Nevertheless, the town council achieved a green rating for cleanliness and lift performance and amber for maintenance.
Town councils are primarily funded by the S&CC. Under the old rating system in previous reports, Aljunied Town Council - before it was merged with Hougang Town Council - achieved a Level 1 rating for managing S&CC arrears and the number of households in arrears. Hougang Town Council was rated Level 5, the lowest grade.
In the latest report, Potong Pasir Town Council - which also changed hands after last year's GE, and is now run by the People's Action Party - was the only other town council which did not achieve a "Green" rating for for S&CC arrears. It was rated "Amber" with more than half of its monthly S&CC collectible overdue for three months or more.
Potong Pasir Town Council chairman Sitoh Yih Pin said that many of the households in arrears are unable to pay off what they owe due to financial circumstances, adding that this was "an inherited problem".
"We've arranged for some of (the households in arrears) to pay in instalments, and at the same time we are using our welfare fund to give them assistance, provide bursaries to their children, and deliver essential goods to them," Mr Sitoh said.
Overall, six town councils - Ang Mo Kio, Bishan-Toa Payoh, Holland-Bukit Panjang, Moulmein-Kallang, Sembawang-Nee Soon and Nee Soon - achieved perfect scores for all five indicators.
All the town councils were rated green for cleanliness and lift performance. According to the MND, green rating for lift performance generally means that for every 10 lifts, less than two breakdowns occur each month and less than two in 100 lifts have a non-functioning Automatic Rescue Device.
Eight of the 15 town councils received an "amber" rating for maintenance, which indicate there were between four to eight defects spotted for every inspected block.
The MND said the most common maintenance problem was the obstruction of common areas - considered potential fire hazards and obstacles to emergency evacuations - which accounted for 36 per cent of the maintenance issues observed across all the town councils.