PAPee TCs Lost $ from Minibombs, Residents to Pay for it!

[makapaaa]

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Sep 25, 2009
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Councils face S&C arrears <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>3% to 9% of households in HDB estates run by PAP councils have payments outstanding </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Goh Chin Lian, Senior Political Correspondent
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The report will grade councils in each category on a level from one - which is the best - to five. -- PHOTO: EAST COAST TOWN COUNCIL
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->TOWN councils run by the People's Action Party (PAP) are confident of securing more than a passing grade in all but one area, when a new report card on how well they run estates is released next year.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>THEY HAVE MONEY BUT...

'SOME own cars and send children overseas to study, but tell us: 'We don't have money to pay you.''

Aljunied Town Council chairman Cynthia Phua

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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Dr Teo Ho Pin, coordinating chairman of the 14 PAP-run councils, said on Thursday that several face difficulties getting residents to pay the monthly service and conservancy (S&C) charges promptly.
At its worst, some 8 per cent to 9 per cent of households in HDB estates managed by these councils have payments outstanding for three months or more, he told The Straits Times.
That could translate to a poorer grade for one of the four categories in which councils are to be assessed in the first Town Council Management Report, to be released by June next year.
Councils will be assessed in four areas: the cleanliness of estates; maintenance; the performance of lifts; and how councils deal with arrears in S&C charges. The report will grade councils in each category on a level from one - which is the best - to five.
Dr Teo on Thursday declined to identify the estates or specify how many councils have trouble getting residents to settle the arrears. He would only say that the proportion of households with overdue S&C charge payments ranges from 3per cent to 9 per cent. Many are four-room flat owners.
The monthly charges - which range from $18 to $85 depending on the type of flat - form the bulk of funds that councils collect and use to maintain estates.
Council chairmen, who are MPs, said that among those in arrears are residents in genuine financial hardship. They include those who lost jobs in the recession and those who cannot draw on the full range of government help measures because of their combined household incomes or the size of their flats.
But there is also a sizeable group which can afford to pay, but does not, MPs said. Said Aljunied Town Council chairman Cynthia Phua: 'Some own cars and send children overseas to study, but tell us: 'We don't have money to pay you.'
'We can take them to court but it's a long process. The cost of collecting payments is also high in terms of manpower costs and legal expenses.' About 3 per cent of the 50,000 households under her council are in arrears of three months or more.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times
[email protected]

 

[scroobal]

This is the part that I don't get. Why are MPs running town coucils. Its a conflict of interest. Who is going to query anything parliament about HDB estates, town councils. I am aware that it was originally designed to place a huge burden on opposition MPs and to twart promising opposition candidates.

 

[halsey02]

This is the part that I don't get. Why are MPs running town coucils. Its a conflict of interest. Who is going to query anything parliament about HDB estates, town councils. I am aware that it was originally designed to place a huge burden on opposition MPs and to twart promising opposition candidates.

This is call RETRIBUTION...may the people of SINgapore wake up!, you think the PAP MP's can do a better job than others, all the time?:p

 

[darememore]

When the citizens failed to pay the fee, it a loss and should be charge in court to get back the overdue.

What about the loss in minibond ? Who should be charge in court to get back the money loss?

Wake up my fellow singaporean.