Town Councils’ FY2021 Financial Statements And FY2021 Town Council Management Report (TCMR) – Governance Report

PRESS RELEASE

TOWN COUNCILS’ FY2021 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

AND FY2021 TOWN COUNCIL MANAGEMENT REPORT (TCMR) –

GOVERNANCE REPORT

Presentation of Town Councils’ FY2021 Financial Statements to Parliament

The Ministry of National Development (MND) has presented the FY2021 audited financial statements of the 17 Town Councils (TCs) to Parliament and the TCs will be publishing them on their websites.

2. All TCs had unqualified financial statements for FY2021. While the TCs have generally reported surpluses for FY2021, TCs faced significant cost pressures due to higher energy prices, higher manpower costs and higher costs of maintenance services.

3. Cost increases, such as energy price increases, are not unique to Singapore, but the Government takes steps to partially cushion the impact on residents. To help TCs meet their operational costs, the Government has been providing grants such as the S&CC Operating Grant, GST Subvention Grant, Lift Maintenance Grant and Lift Replacement Fund Matching Grant. We have also provided S&CC rebates to HDB residents to help them cope with the increase in cost of living. The Government will continue to monitor the TCs’ financial positions, taking into account these cost pressures.

Results of the FY2021 TCMR Governance Report

4. From FY2021, the annual TCMR is split into two reports: (a) an operational report on Estate Cleanliness, Estate Maintenance, Lift Performance and S&CC Arrears Management indicators, to be published in the mid-year period; and (b) a governance report on Corporate Governance (CG), to be published during the year-end period. The methodology for assessing the CG indicator has also been revised, to consider the severity of observations[1], and not just the number of observations.

5. MND had earlier released the FY2021 TCMR Operational Report covering TCs’ results for the four operational indicators (Estate Cleanliness, Estate Maintenance, Lift Performance and S&CC Arrears Management) on 29 June 2022.

6. MND has since received and completed the review of the TCs’ audited financial statements, their auditor’s report as well as checks on TCs’ declarations of compliance with the TCs Act and Rules. For FY2021, all TCs were banded “Green” for their CG indicator. Two TCs, Jurong-Clementi TC and Pasir Ris-Punggol TC, each had a low severity non-compliance with Town Councils Financial Rules or the Town Councils Act and scored 0.5 point for their CG scoring. These non-compliances were first-time administrative oversight that had been rectified. As the total scores for both TCs were less than 1 point, both TCs were banded “Green” (see Annex for the CG banding table). Details can be found in the full report.

Enquiries

7. Members of the public can refer to the TCs’ FY2021 financial statements on the respective TCs’ websites. The FY2021 TCMR Governance Report and TCs’ CG declarations can be found here.

Issued by: Ministry of National Development

Date: 7 Dec 2022

Annex

TCMR Corporate Governance Banding Table

Governance Indicator

Governance Indicator

Green

Green

Amber

Amber

Red

Red

Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance

< 1 point[1]

< 1 point[1]

1 to < 2 points

1 to < 2 points

≥ 2 points

≥ 2 points

[1] Points are assigned based on severity of the observations. For instance, an observation which constitutes an offence under the TCs Act will be considered high severity while a first-time administrative oversight that has been rectified will be considered low severity.

[1] These refer to governance-related observations raised by the TCs’ auditors and/or discovered through MND’s checks on TCs’ declarations of compliance with the TCs Act and Rules.