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By Leong Sze Hian & Andrew Loh
Jurong (JTC) and Aljunied Town Councils’ (ATC) Service and Conservancy Charges (S & CC) will increase for all flat types on 1 April.
As Singapore is just coming out of its worse recession, with the economy contracting by two per cent last year and also contracting by 2.8 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis in the last quarter of last year, unemployment still high at an average of 87,000 for 2009, wages falling by 3.2 per cent in real terms in 2009, and wage cuts that may not have been restored, I would like to suggest that we be cautious in starting to raise fees so soon.
For example, it was also announced recently that Polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) fees will also go up from 1 April.
According to Jurong Town Council’s annual report for 2008/2009, it had a surplus for the year of $1.5 million, and an accumulated surplus of $3.2 million.
This is after transferring $11.7 million to the sinking fund, giving a total reserve of $79.3 million.
For Aljunied Town Council, the surplus for the year was $2.8 million and total town council funds were $59.5 million.
So, why is there a pressing need to increase S & CC so soon?
Even if we have to increase S & CC, those in 1 and 2-room HDB flats should be spared, as their median monthly household income from work declined by a whopping 13.9 per cent in 2009, according to the Department of Statistics’ Household Income Trends 2009 report.
Also, why is it that S & CC in the opposition wards Potong Pasir and Hougang are now lower than Jurong and Aljunied, for all flat types, except for 2-room flats in Hougang which at $28.50 is 50 cents more than Jurong and Aljunied?
According to media reports, Government grants in 2005 per household were $560 for Aljunied, compared to $114 and $111 for Potong Pasir and Hougang respectively.
For 2009, Government grants for Aljunied, Jurong, Potong Pasir and Hougang, were $9.1, $9.1, $0.75 and $0.94 million respectively.
So, even after adjusting for the smaller number of households in Potong Pasir and Hougang, it would appear that Government grants may still be substantially higher per household for Aljunied and Hougang.
If this is the case, why is it that S & CC in Aljunied and Jurong are higher, despite higher Government grants?
The fact that the last reported statistic that three to nine per cent of households were in arrears of more than three months on their S & CC, may indicate that many Singaporeans may still be in financial difficulties.
I hope that other town councils and service providers will not also increase their fees so soon too.
Readers will remember that in 2008, the Straits Times reported:
… the $2 billion in the sinking funds its [the PAP’s] 14 town councils manage is in good hands, said Mr Khaw Boon Wan, the party’s first organising secretary.
It would thus seem that in a year which saw the worst financial crisis in decades, Singapore seeing record inflation and our town councils being affected by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the town councils have been able to effectively double its sinking funds.
The question one would ask is: How did this happen? Were returns from investments so good? Or are town councils collecting unnecessary excess of service and conservancy charges?
How did the sinking funds grow from $1 billion to $2 billion within the space of one year in such an adverse economic climate?
Perhaps before PAP town councils are allowed to increase S&C charges, these questions should be answered first.
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//my views
//How could you have income increase if your employer does not have profit increase?
yeah, it is very fair to have a 1% increase in salary but your employers’ profit increase by 10%.
He needn’t worry, the employer, can always get an ft to do the job at a lower cost.
//my views
//This explained why the opposition parties could not beat the PAP. Because they don’t even understand the majority of voters’ needs and concern
tell that to lhl and ask him to start the election now.
the ft issue will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
If an election is held now, the PAP at most would lose 1 or 2 seats.
The reason is because the opposition is likely to fight on the ‘foreign talents’ issue. In reality, most Singaporeans can understand the need to bring in more foreign talents.
//My views
//if an election is held now, the PAP at most would lose 1 or 2 seats.
Start the elections now if you are so confident or if LHL is so confident.
why wait?
Your pigs can then claim pensions faster since most of them have only gone through one elections.
//my views
//most Singaporeans can understand the need to bring in more foreign talents.
yeah right, the foreigners are talents? with most of them looking for a position in job fairs etc?
//my views
//the reason is because the opposition is likely to fight on the ‘foreign talents’
The list of public demonstration of incompetency of this govt is long. There is no shortage of topics or angle of attack for the opposition.
The truth is: the opposition has performed much better than the pigs over the past decade.
CJ
Mar 25, 2010 4:07
damagedDNAs;
How TRUE is this little scoop of yours? If it IS, aren’t you putting your neck on our Government’s Chopping Block??
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My Views
Mar 25, 2010 3:35
This is what I called trying to cook up a storm to mislead people.
The F16s were old fighter-planes belonged to Singapore and given away to the Thai Airforce, in return for using its airspace .
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sorry for the very very late rebuttals
cj..you nice try scaretatics no longer being used..try rubber hose pipe or yellow pages with hammer…
myviews
you are the best in stupidlity amon the rest..so what you says is so simple…ole planes mah…so if hoching and leekuanyews donates to asean neigbours in term$ of harddollar$..ole note$ were donated..not the pla$tic printed type…it$ ok lark…
attempt to mislead people? when this kind of thinggie wasn’t present to parliament for audit purpo$e$..and the 143th media did not even published it..but its published on hoching gettin an award for ntuc mayday celebration…
@damagedDNAs, Mar 30, 2010 13:19
If even Wikipedia mentioned our F-16A/Bs given to Thailand in exchange for airspace, then I don’t think that is a scoop and certainly not something cooked up to mislead. The F-16A/B are still very capable planes, and if we wanted to give “old” planes, then could have given the F-5s or even collect some A4 Skyhawks from various monument stands/museums for them. I believe the F16A/B’s will serve the same purpose to the Thais as they did to the RSAF when we first acquired them. Bartering is something quite common when military hardware is involved.
In short, you didn’t miss anything if you engage an idiot like MV.
theforgottongeneration
In short, you didn’t miss anything if you engage an idiot like MV.
hee hee..this is just a tip of the iceberg…who0 wanna hear the 155 howitzer big guns in india facin the paskitani border…who supplied the 155 howitzer guns? sweden or good ole singapoor?
well thats another scoop.. for me to know for you peeps to guess and without a doubt for myviews to tell us that the 155 howitzer guns was rejected by singapore tech inc…
@damagedDNAs, Mar 31, 2010 16:21
Les’ the 155 is conventional. There was an international call on ban of landmines and CBUs, but surprisingly, even a Tiny Red Dot strongly rejected that call. Seems like ST was raking $$ on these items. We were suckers to think “Swiss standard” meant std of living; actually our ‘grow-at-all-cost’ garhem meant international arm sales.
Anyway, sorry that we have diverted from article topic. Have a nice LONG weekend…..