It has become an annual affair.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) will publish their annual Town Council Management Report to assess the performance of the Town Councils. The opposition wards will perform poorly in the assessment, compared to those town councils run by the ruling party.

This year, MND said that Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC)’s persistent poor performance in “S&CC (Service and Consultancy Charges) arrears management” and “corporate governance” is of "grave public concern".

AHPETC had a S&CC arrears rate of 29.4 percent as of end April 2013 and had 'stopped submitting its monthly S&CC arrears reports altogether’.

Workers’ Party says

Low Thia Khiang, the secretary-general of Workers’ Party, told Lianhe Zaobao on Thursday (6 Nov) that AHPETC had no problems with its cash flow, and that the issues with S&CC arrears management and corporate governance had not impacted the environment and safety of the residents.

Low also told Zaobao that AHPETC might not have had the time to collate and submit financial statments, reports and checklists for MND as it had to handle an audit from the Auditor-General, which was ordered by the Minister for National Development earlier this year.

Town council vice-chairman Png Eng Huat also said in an interview with The Straits Times that the report showed the council "did pretty well in the areas of cleanliness, maintenance and lift performance".

He acknowledged the "areas with red bands" and said the town council is "looking into how to improve them going forward."

The government rebuts 

Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee disagreed with Low's "sanguine assessment", saying that the town council’s finances 'must surely decline and the TC will not be able to sustain its operations’ if the rate of S&CC arrears continued.

“Hougang managed to avoid a cash flow problem only after (Low Thia Khiang) merged with Aljunied after GE 2011… The operating surplus of $3.3m Aljunied had in FY10 had turned into an operating deficit of S$734,000 in FY12,” Lee said a statement to Channel NewsAsia on Friday.

What others say

The MND report has been spun both ways by WP and the PAP, with PAP supporters questioning the poor corporate governance and high arrears rate online, and the WP’s supporters saying that corporate governance and arrears management was not a problem at all, but rather, more reflective of the dire economic situation in Singapore.

Former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Calvin Cheng criticised AHPETC, saying that the high S&CC arrears rate "is a sign that (the WP) has a tendency to be populist at the expense of the financial health of its town council."

"Just imagine if the Workers' Party were to apply the same financial management principles to Singapore as a whole, and not collect taxes, and fines, and license fees in order to win the favour of voters - to show it is 'compassionate' - what will happen to Singapore's finances?”

Blogger Leong Sze Hian had a different view: “(Does) it mean that the opposition wards may be more compassionate towards families who are unable to pay?”

Leong also questioned if the other town councils wrote off arrears in order to improve their scores.

Finance and investment blogger Adrian Tan wrote that, "if the people (in) the GRC, especially those who are paying their bills regularly, are willing for the community to bear the costs... so be it."

So, would this issue on the S&CC arrears become a factor in the next General Election?

Former journalist Bertha Henson pondered:  "I wonder what is more important to the Aljunied/Hougang voter : the need for a contrarian voice in Parliament or a well-run housing estate."

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