Bishan-Toa Payoh only town council to miss top rating in corporate governance report

SINGAPORE: All town councils, with the exception of Bishan-Toa Payoh (BTPTC), achieved the top green rating for corporate governance in the latest estate management report released by the Ministry of National Development (MND).

BTPTC was given an amber rating for the 2023 financial year because of multiple instances of administrative oversight, said MND on Wednesday (Dec 11).

The town council did not obtain ministerial approval before starting works on non-common property and disbursing funds for three projects. The required ministerial approval was only sought and given to the town council retrospectively.

“As there were multiple occurrences of the same type of non-compliance, this was considered as a medium severity observation,” said MND. As a result, BTPTC scored one point for its corporate governance indicator and was banded amber for the 2023 financial year.

Assessments are given using three colour bands – green, amber and red. Points are assigned depending on the severity of the observations, with more points given for more severe observations.

BTPTC manages HDB estates in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and Marymount SMC. The Members of Parliament are Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, Mr Chong Kee Hiong, Mr Saktiandi Supaat and Minister of State (Education and Manpower) Gan Siow Huang, who is the MP for Marymount.

Three other town councils – Ang Mo Kio, Marine Parade and Marsiling-Yew Tee – also had cases of non-compliance with the Town Councils Act that were deemed as “low severity”. They each scored 0.5 points, putting them in the green band. 

Ang Mo Kio Town Council had incorrectly assigned a portion of the Lift Replacement Fund matching grant to a residential property, instead of a commercial property. It has since revised its financial statements for 2023 and rectified its accounting records, said MND.

Marine Parade Town Council did not obtain consent from the Housing & Development Board (HDB) before starting works on common property. The required consent was only sought and given to the town council retrospectively.

Similarly, Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council did not obtain consent from HDB before doing a pilot installation on common property. The town council removed the installation after it was notified by HDB.

For both Marine Parade and Marsiling-Yew Tee town councils, MND said: “As the non-compliance was a first-time administrative oversight that had been rectified, it was considered as a low severity observation.” 

MND added that for FY2023, all town councils generally reported improved financial positions.

This was largely due to increased service and conservancy charges (S&CC), as well as a one-off special funding support (SFS) package given by the government to town councils, which adjusted their S&CC.

The SFS package had served as a temporary measure to buffer town councils 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”, said MND.

MND noted that without the package, more town councils would have incurred operating deficits for FY2023.

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