Town Councils’ FY2023 Financial Statements and FY2023 Town Council Management Report (TCMR) – Governance Report

Presentation of Town Councils’ FY2023 Financial Statements to Parliament

The Ministry of National Development (MND) has presented the FY2023 audited financial statements of the 17 Town Councils (TCs) to Parliament and the TCs will be publishing them on their websites.

All TCs had unqualified financial statements for FY2023.[1]

For FY2023, the TCs generally reported improved financial positions, mainly due to the increased Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC), as well as the one-off Special Funding Support package (SFS) that the Government gave to TCs that made adjustments to their S&CC. The SFS package served as a temporary measure to buffer TCs and residents from the full impact of the sharp and steep operational cost increases that arose due to external factors in 2022 and 2023 and enable the TCs to manage their operations sustainably. Without the SFS, more TCs would have incurred operating deficits for FY2023.

These measures, coupled with TCs’ ongoing efforts to raise productivity and improve cost-efficiency, have been necessary to help TCs cope with cost pressures, particularly in the areas of cleaning, maintenance and general administration. Maintaining a financially sustainable footing has enabled TCs to continue setting aside funds for town improvement projects that benefit residents, such as constructing sheltered linkways and disability-friendly ramps to improve connectivity within their towns, upgrading estate infrastructure, and building more activity areas, e.g. fitness corners and playgrounds. Additionally, some TCs have also topped up their Lift Replacement Funds, to save up for upcoming lift replacement works.

The Government will continue to monitor the TCs’ financial positions and is committed to work with TCs to ensure their long-term financial sustainability.

Results of the FY2023 TCMR Governance Report

The annual TCMR is published in two reports: (a) an operational report on Estate Cleanliness, Estate Maintenance, Lift Performance and S&CC Arrears Management indicators in the mid-year period; and (b) a governance report on Corporate Governance (CG), in the year-end period.

MND had earlier released the FY2023 TCMR Operational Report covering TCs’ results for the four operational indicators on 27 June 2024.

For the governance report, MND has since completed the review of the TCs’ audited financial statements, their auditors’ reports, as well as checks on TCs’ declarations of compliance with the Town Councils Act and Rules. For FY2023, 16 TCs were banded “Green” and Bishan-Toa Payoh TC (BTPTC) was banded “Amber” for its CG indicator.

Three TCs, namely Ang Mo Kio TC, Marine Parade TC and Marsiling-Yew Tee TC, each had one low severity observation of non-compliance with the Town Councils Act. These were cases of administrative oversight that have since been rectified. As each of these TCs scored less than one point (i.e. 0.5 points) for their CG scoring, the TCs were banded “Green” (see Annex for the CG banding table).

BTPTC had three instances of the same type of non-compliance with the Town Councils Act, which were cases of administrative oversight that have since been rectified. This was considered as a medium severity observation as there were multiple instances of the same type of non-compliance. The TC scored one point for its CG scoring, thus receiving an “Amber” band.

Details can be found in the full report.

Enquiries

Members of the public can refer to the TCs’ FY2023 financial statements on the respective TCs’ websites. The FY2023 TCMR Governance Report and TCs’ CG declarations can be found here.

[1] This indicates that their auditors have concluded that their financial statements presented a true and fair view of their financial position and performance in all material aspects.

Annex

TCMR Corporate Governance Banding Table

Governance Indicator

Green

Amber

Red

Corporate Governance

< 1 point[1]

1 to < 2 points

≥ 2 points

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