Town Councils’ FY2019 Financial Statements and the FY2019 Town Council Management Report

Presentation of Town Councils’ FY2019 Financial Statements to Parliament

The Ministry of National Development (MND) has presented the FY2019 audited financial statements of the 16 pre-General Election (GE) 2020 Town Councils (TCs)1 to Parliament and the TCs will be making them available on their websites.

All TCs had unqualified financial statements for FY2019.

In view of the Circuit Breaker period in 2020, MND granted the TCs a 2-month extension of the deadline for the submission of their audited financial statements and Corporate Governance Checklists, from 30 Sep 2020 to 30 Nov 2020. 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 (TCMR) results have been delayed.

Results of the FY2019 Town Council Management Report

MND has also released the FY2019 TCMR covering the period April 2019 to March 2020. Under the TCMR, TCs are assessed across five indicators, using three colour bands. The assessment is based on measurable criteria submitted by the TCs and their auditors.

The results of the FY2019 TCMR are comparable with that of previous years, with improvements observed in the area of Estate Cleanliness. The results are summarised below. More details can be found at Annexes A and B.

TCMR Indicators

TCMR Indicators

Results

Results

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.

All TCs scored “Green”

All TCs scored “Green”

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.

14 TCs scored “Green”

2 TCs scored “Amber”

14 TCs scored “Green”

2 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)2.

Lift Performance

Assesses the performance of lifts as measured by frequency of lift breakdowns and functioning of the Automatic Rescue Device (ARD)2.

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.

15 TCs scored “Green”

1 TC scored “Amber”

15 TCs scored “Green”

1 TC scored “Amber”

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).

15 TCs scored “Green”

1 TC scored “Amber”

15 TCs scored “Green”

1 TC scored “Amber”

Observations

Some observations for the indicators are as follows:

a) Estate Cleanliness. All TCs were banded “Green” as there were less than 4 counts of cleanliness observations per block on average.

b) Estate Maintenance. 14 TCs were banded “Green” while Aljunied-Hougang TC and Tampines TC 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. 15 TCs were banded “Green” while Chua Chu Kang TC was banded “Amber”.

TCs which had less than 40% of the monthly collectible S&CC for the town overdue and less than 4 in 100 households that owed arrears for 3 months or more were banded “Green”.

Chua Chu Kang TC was banded “Amber” as the TC had 40% to less than 50% of the monthly collectible S&CC for the town overdue while the households that owed arrears for 3 months or more remained at less than 4 in 100 households.

e) Corporate Governance. 15 TCs were banded “Green” while Tampines TC was banded “Amber” due to one count of non-compliance with the TCFR. The TC had under-transferred the amount due to the sinking and lift replacement funds for one quarter due to a computation error. The TC had discovered the error and rectified the shortfall in the next quarterly transfer.

FY2020 TCMR and Subsequent Reports

MND has suspended the FY2020 TCMR assessment for the TCs for the period April 2020 to March 2021 and will not be publishing a report for this period. This is in view of the disruption faced by the TCs during the Circuit Breaker period as well as the changes to the TCs 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).

From the FY2021 TCMR, MND will publish the TCMR in two reports, specifically a report covering the operational indicators (Estate Cleanliness, Estate Maintenance, Lift Performance and S&CC Arrears Management) to be published in May/Jun each year, and a report covering the Corporate Governance indicator to be published in Nov/Dec each year. The FY2021 TCMR will be based on the new town areas after GE2020, covering 17 TCs for the period April 2021 to March 2022.

Enquiries

Members of the public can refer to the TCs’ FY2019 financial statements on the respective TCs’ websites. The TCMR results can be found on www.mnd.gov.sg/towncouncils.

1 This refers to the 16 TCs in existence prior to GE2020 in July last year.

2 The ARD brings the lift car to the nearest lift landing during a power failure.