With the release of the Town Council Management Report by the Ministry of National Development, the mainstream media has seized on to the fact that Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) has been delayed in submitting its auditor’s Management Letter “which is material to the banding of the corporate governance indicator” – the category is indicated as ‘pending’ for that Town Council.
In what must be Christmas-comes-early for the good people who write the wonderful tales carried in the mainstream media, the same town council also scored red for the category of Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) Arrears since “more than 5 per cent of AHTC’s households had S&CC arrears overdue for three months or more” and “more than half of its monthly S&CC collectible was overdue for three months or more”.
As discussed by Leong Sze Hian way back in 2010 (TCMR numbers show many residents in S&CC arrears), the ‘poor’ performance of town councils when it comes to S&CC arrears belies the fact that it is very possible that it reflects more of the town council’s empathy of the difficulties faced by residents. In that regard, it is quite telling that AHTC, which is run by a team managed by the Workers’ Party is the only one that has so much arrears. Full story
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