# Town Councils’ FY2018 Financial Statements and the FY2018 Town Council Management Report - **Source:** Ministry of National Development - **Published:** 2019-12-05T10:00:00.000Z - **Author:** Ministry of National Development - **Original:** https://www.mnd.gov.sg/newsroom/press-releases/view/town-councils-fy2018-financial-statements-and-the-fy2018-town-council-management-report - **Topics:** Government & Policy ## Featured rationale Broadly strong financial, maintenance and lift results signal stable estate management, which may support resident confidence and liveability across public-housing towns. ## AI summary All Town Councils received unqualified FY2018 financial statements, while 13 of 16 achieved “Green” for estate maintenance and all achieved “Green” for lifts. ## Original article Presentation of Town Councils’ FY2018 Financial Statements to Parliament The Ministry of National Development (MND) has presented the FY2018 audited financial statements of all Town Councils (TCs) to Parliament, and the TCs will be making them available on their websites. 2. All TCs had unqualified financial statements for FY2018. Results of the FY2018 Town Council Management Report 3. MND has also released the FY2018 Town Council Management Report (TCMR) covering the period April 2018 to March 2019. Under the TCMR, TCs are assessed across five indicators, using three colour bands. The assessment is based on measurable objective criteria submitted by the TCs and their auditors. This is also the first report which has adopted the revised Performance Standards for Estate Cleanliness and Estate Maintenance. 4. The results of the FY2018 TCMR are comparable with that of previous years, with improvements observed in the area of Estate Maintenance. The results are summarised below. More details can be found at Annexes A and B. TCMR Indicators TCMR Indicators Result Result Estate Cleanliness Assesses town cleanliness in areas such as presence of litter, bulky refuse and graffiti. Estate Cleanliness Assesses town cleanliness in areas such as presence of litter, bulky refuse and graffiti. 15 TCs scored “Green” 1 TC scored “Amber” 15 TCs scored “Green” 1 TC scored “Amber” Estate Maintenance Assesses town maintenance in areas such as damaged pipes/walls and obstructions in common areas. Estate Maintenance Assesses town maintenance in areas such as damaged pipes/walls and obstructions in common areas. 13 TCs scored “Green” 3 TCs scored “Amber” 13 TCs scored “Green” 3 TCs scored “Amber” Lift Performance Assesses the performance of lifts as measured by frequency of lift breakdowns and functioning of the Automatic Rescue Device (ARD)[1]. Lift Performance Assesses the performance of lifts as measured by frequency of lift breakdowns and functioning of the Automatic Rescue Device (ARD)[1]. All TCs scored “Green” All TCs scored “Green” S&CC Arrears Management Assesses the effectiveness of TCs’ S&CC arrears management. S&CC Arrears Management Assesses the effectiveness of TCs’ S&CC arrears management. All TCs scored “Green” All TCs scored “Green” Corporate Governance Reflects the strength of TCs’ corporate governance through governance-related observations by their auditors and their self-declared compliance with the Town Councils Act (TCs Act) and subsidiary legislation such as Town Councils Financial Rules (TCFR). Corporate Governance Reflects the strength of TCs’ corporate governance through governance-related observations by their auditors and their self-declared compliance with the Town Councils Act (TCs Act) and subsidiary legislation such as Town Councils Financial Rules (TCFR). 14 TCs scored “Green”[2] 2 TCs scored “Amber” 14 TCs scored “Green”[2] 2 TCs scored “Amber” [1] The ARD brings the lift car to the nearest lift landing during a power failure. [2] Please refer to paras 6 to 8 for details affecting Aljunied-Hougang Town Council. Observations 5. The broad observations for the indicators are as follows: a) Estate Cleanliness. 15 TCs were banded “Green” and 1 TC was banded “Amber”. TCs which had less than 4 counts of cleanliness observations per block on average were banded “Green”, while TCs which had 4 to less than 8 counts of cleanliness observations per block on average were banded “Amber”. b) Estate Maintenance. 13 TCs were banded “Green” and 3 TCs were banded “Amber”. TCs which had less than 4 counts of maintenance observations per block on average were banded “Green”, while TCs which had 4 to less than 8 counts of maintenance observations per block on average were banded “Amber”. c) Lift Performance. All TCs were banded “Green” as there were less than 2 breakdowns every month for every 10 lifts managed by the TCs, and the lifts’ ARD failure rate was zero. d) S&CC Arrears Management. All TCs were banded “Green” as there were less than 4 in 100 households that owed arrears for 3 months or more, and less than 40% of the monthly collectible S&CC for the town was overdue. e) Corporate Governance. 14 TCs were banded “Green”, and 2 TCs were banded “Amber” due to one count each of non-compliance with the TCs Act and the TCFR respectively: i) Holland-Bukit Panjang – Collection of charges for the use of outdoor display areas (ODAs) by third-party retailers. This goes beyond the provisions of the Town Councils (Use of Common Property) Rules which require the ODAs to be confined to incidental use by existing businesses. ii) Jurong-Clementi – The TCFR allows quotations of up to $3,000 to be obtained verbally and approved, and thereafter circulated to the Town Council for information. While the TC had obtained approval from the appropriate authority for these quotations, it had not circulated them as required by the TCFR. 6. Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) has achieved a “Green” banding for the Corporate Governance indicator. This was due in large part to the efforts of KPMG (the accountants appointed by AHTC pursuant to a Court order in 2015), which assisted AHTC in its remediation of past control failures and audit points over a period of 24 months. HDB had provided funding for this work done by KPMG. 7. Separately, MND notes the recent High Court judgment in October 2019 which found that Ms Sylvia Lim and Mr Low Thia Khiang, both elected town councillors of AHTC, had acted dishonestly and in breach of their fiduciary duties, and that their conduct had lacked integrity and candour. Despite these serious and grave findings, AHTC has resolved during its recent quarterly meeting that Ms Lim and Mr Low do not need to recuse themselves from AHTC’s financial matters. 8. For good governance, AHTC should take interim measures to safeguard its procurement and payment processes immediately. Until and unless the Court findings in respect of Ms Lim’s and Mr Low’s conduct are reversed by the appellate Court, they remain good and should be taken seriously by AHTC. In particular, MND remains concerned as to whether the measures implemented under KPMG’s guidance are adequate to guard against a recurrence of the past control failures if Ms Lim and Mr Low continue to be involved with AHTC’s financial affairs, especially since the adequacy of the measures is entirely dependent on their implementation by the individuals involved with AHTC’s financial affairs. In this regard, MND has written to AHTC on 4 December 2019 to request for information on AHTC’s reasons for not requiring Ms Lim’s and Mr Low’s recusal on AHTC’s financial matters, and on whether AHTC intends to implement other interim measures or safeguards. Upon receiving AHTC’s response, MND will further consider whether regulatory action needs to be taken in order to ensure the proper safeguarding of public monies entrusted to Town Councils. TCMR Review 9. From FY2020, the Lift Performance Indicator will be revised to a holistic assessment which considers the frequency and duration of lift faults. This will serve as a more direct measure of the experience of residents in using their lifts. The revised Indicator will be a composite measure of the frequency of fault occurrences of all faults measured by the Tele-Monitoring System (TMS) used by TCs, and the duration of lift downtime experienced by residents as a result of such TMS faults. TCs which have less than 2 lift faults per 10 lifts and less than 1 hour of downtime per lift each month, will be banded “Green”. The remaining indicators are being reviewed progressively, and details will be announced when ready. Enquiries 10. Members of the public can refer to the TCs’ FY2018 financial statements on the respective TCs’ websites. The TCMR results can be found on www.mnd.gov.sg/towncouncils. ## Chinese translation > Translation model: grok_cli ### 市镇理事会 2018 财政年度财务报表及 2018 财政年度市镇理事会管理报告 向国会提呈市镇理事会 2018 财政年度财务报表 国家发展部（MND）已向国会提呈所有市镇理事会（TC）2018 财政年度经审计财务报表，各市镇理事会亦将在其网站公布有关报表。 2. 所有市镇理事会 2018 财政年度财务报表均获无保留意见。 2018 财政年度市镇理事会管理报告结果 3. MND 亦已发布 2018 财政年度市镇理事会管理报告（TCMR），涵盖 2018 年 4 月至 2019 年 3 月期间。在 TCMR 下，市镇理事会按五项指标、三个色带接受评估。评估依据由各市镇理事会及其审计师提交的可衡量客观标准。这也是首份采用经修订的产业清洁与产业维修表现标准的报告。 4. 2018 财政年度 TCMR 结果与往年相若，产业维修方面有所改善。结果摘要如下。更多详情见附件 A 及 B。 TCMR 指标 TCMR 指标 结果 结果 产业清洁 评估市镇在垃圾、大型废弃物及涂鸦等方面的清洁情况。 产业清洁 评估市镇在垃圾、大型废弃物及涂鸦等方面的清洁情况。 15 个市镇理事会获“绿色” 1 个市镇理事会获“琥珀色” 15 个市镇理事会获“绿色” 1 个市镇理事会获“琥珀色” 产业维修 评估市镇在管道／墙壁损坏及公共区域阻碍物等方面的维修情况。 产业维修 评估市镇在管道／墙壁损坏及公共区域阻碍物等方面的维修情况。 13 个市镇理事会获“绿色” 3 个市镇理事会获“琥珀色” 13 个市镇理事会获“绿色” 3 个市镇理事会获“琥珀色” 电梯表现 以电梯故障频率及自动救援装置（ARD）[1] 运作情况评估电梯表现。 电梯表现 以电梯故障频率及自动救援装置（ARD）[1] 运作情况评估电梯表现。 所有市镇理事会获“绿色” 所有市镇理事会获“绿色” 服务与杂费欠款管理 评估市镇理事会服务与杂费（S&CC）欠款管理的成效。 服务与杂费欠款管理 评估市镇理事会服务与杂费（S&CC）欠款管理的成效。 所有市镇理事会获“绿色” 所有市镇理事会获“绿色” 公司治理 通过审计师就治理相关观察，以及市镇理事会自行申报遵守《市镇理事会法令》（TCs Act）及附属法例如《市镇理事会财务规则》（TCFR）的情况，反映市镇理事会公司治理的强度。 公司治理 通过审计师就治理相关观察，以及市镇理事会自行申报遵守《市镇理事会法令》（TCs Act）及附属法例如《市镇理事会财务规则》（TCFR）的情况，反映市镇理事会公司治理的强度。 14 个市镇理事会获“绿色”[2] 2 个市镇理事会获“琥珀色” 14 个市镇理事会获“绿色”[2] 2 个市镇理事会获“琥珀色” [1] 自动救援装置在停电时将电梯轿厢送至最近的电梯层站。 [2] 有关影响阿裕尼—后港市镇理事会的详情，请参阅第 6 至 8 段。 观察 5. 各项指标的总体观察如下： a) 产业清洁。15 个市镇理事会获“绿色”，1 个获“琥珀色”。平均每座组屋楼宇清洁观察少于 4 次的市镇理事会获“绿色”；平均每座 4 次至少于 8 次的获“琥珀色”。 b) 产业维修。13 个市镇理事会获“绿色”，3 个获“琥珀色”。平均每座组屋楼宇维修观察少于 4 次的市镇理事会获“绿色”；平均每座 4 次至少于 8 次的获“琥珀色”。 c) 电梯表现。所有市镇理事会均获“绿色”，因每 10 部电梯每月故障少于 2 次，且电梯自动救援装置故障率为零。 d) 服务与杂费欠款管理。所有市镇理事会均获“绿色”，因每 100 户中拖欠 3 个月或以上欠款的住户少于 4 户，且该市镇每月可收服务与杂费中逾期部分少于 40%。 e) 公司治理。14 个市镇理事会获“绿色”，2 个获“琥珀色”，原因是分别各有一宗未遵守《市镇理事会法令》及《市镇理事会财务规则》的情况： i) 荷兰—武吉班让——就第三方零售商使用户外陈列区（ODA）收取费用。此举超出《市镇理事会（公共产业使用）规则》的规定，该规则要求户外陈列区仅限于现有商户的附带使用。 ii) 裕廊—金文泰——《市镇理事会财务规则》允许不超过 3,000 元的报价可口头取得并获批准，其后须呈交市镇理事会备悉。该市镇理事会虽已就这些报价取得适当当局批准，但未按《市镇理事会财务规则》要求呈交备悉。 6. 阿裕尼—后港市镇理事会（AHTC）在公司治理指标获“绿色”评级。这在很大程度上归功于 KPMG（根据 2015 年法院命令由 AHTC 委任的会计师）的努力，KPMG 在 24 个月内协助 AHTC 纠正过往的管控失效及审计事项。建屋发展局（HDB）为 KPMG 的此项工作提供了资金。 7. 另外，MND 注意到高等法院于 2019 年 10 月的近期判决，认定林瑞莲女士及刘程强先生作为 AHTC 的民选市镇议员，行为不诚实并违反受信责任，其行为缺乏诚信与坦诚。尽管有这些严重且重大的认定，AHTC 在近期季度会议上仍决议林女士及刘先生无需就 AHTC 的财务事务回避。 8. 为良好治理，AHTC 应立即采取临时措施，保障其采购与付款流程。除非上诉法院推翻有关林女士及刘先生行为的法院认定，否则这些认定仍然有效，AHTC 应予以认真对待。尤其是，MND 仍然关注：若林女士及刘先生继续参与 AHTC 的财务事务，在 KPMG 指导下实施的措施是否足以防止过往管控失效再次发生——特别是因为这些措施是否充足，完全取决于参与 AHTC 财务事务的人员如何落实。就此，MND 已于 2019 年 12 月 4 日致函 AHTC，要求说明 AHTC 为何不要求林女士及刘先生就 AHTC 财务事务回避的理由，以及 AHTC 是否拟实施其他临时措施或保障。接获 AHTC 回复后，MND 将进一步考虑是否需要采取监管行动，以确保妥为保障托付予市镇理事会的公款。 TCMR 检讨 9. 自 2020 财政年度起，电梯表现指标将修订为综合评估，考虑电梯故障的频率与持续时间。这将更直接衡量居民使用电梯的体验。经修订的指标将综合衡量市镇理事会所用远程监察系统（TMS）所测得的所有故障发生频率，以及居民因该等 TMS 故障所经历的电梯停运时长。每 10 部电梯每月故障少于 2 次、且每部电梯每月停运时间少于 1 小时的市镇理事会，将获“绿色”。其余指标正逐步检讨，详情将于就绪时公布。 查询 10. 公众可于各市镇理事会网站查阅其 2018 财政年度财务报表。TCMR 结果可于 www.mnd.gov.sg/towncouncils 查阅。