Channel NewsAsia - 2 hours 30 minutes ago

 

SINGAPORE: With electricity prices and maintenance costs going up, at least two town councils, Aljunied and Jurong, will raise their Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) next month.

The hike will impact flats, shops, offices and market and hawker stalls.

For Singaporean households in Housing Board flats, the hike per month will range between 50 Singapore cents for a one—room flat and S$4.50 for a five—room flat.

While the other 12 People’s Action Party (PAP) and two Opposition town councils have not indicated on their websites that they will raise S&CC, could the announcements by Aljunied and Jurong herald an inevitable trend as costs rise and economic conditions pick up?

The 14 PAP town councils had raised S&CC across the board in 2004 — seven years after the last revision.

Coming up to the six—year mark now, town councils like Jurong have seen power tariffs shoot up by 38.4 per cent since October 2004.

This impacts the town council "greatly", Jurong Town Council said, as utility bills account for 30 per cent of overall operating cost. "Electricity consumption is also forecast to increase with the installation of more lifts, linkways and amenities within the town," it added.

On the frequently—asked—questions section of its website, the town council dismissed any suggestion that the S&CC hike was linked to any investments in failed Lehman—linked structured products.

In the first place, it did not invest in any of the troubled financial products; and its "investments have been generating returns of 2.57 per cent per annum over the last five years", Jurong Town Council said.

Meanwhile, with the growing number of lifts, and lifts making more stops in a block, maintenance costs have also rocketed. In Aljunied, for example, the monthly servicing costs have doubled from S$300 to S$624 where a lift makes nine more stops. And where there were just 884 lifts to maintain in 2005, there will be 1,109 by this month’s end, and a projected 1,270 by 2014.

Also expected to rise: The cost of keeping estates clean. "The demands on the cleaning and refuse removal contractors have changed, and so too their service costs," Aljunied Town Council general manager Jeffrey Chua said.

"Because they have to meet specific performance targets, they have to pay higher wages for better trained workers." The cleaning contract rate of about S$5.98 per equivalent dwelling unit each month has gone up to about S$6.25.

For households facing problems with S&CC payments, both town councils assured them financial help was available and urged them to approach their Members of Parliament.

Residents MediaCorp spoke to want more clarity. "Neighbours complain the estate is still dirty. With the increase, I hope for more transparency on the targets achieved," Aljunied resident Reynold Seah said.

Jurong resident JF Yeo said: "Any fee increase so soon after a recession cannot be good news. The town council should at least show us that our money will be put to good use."

Meanwhile, Jalan Besar Town Council chairperson Denise Phua and Bishan—Toa Payoh Town Council chairman Zainudin Nordin both said they had no plans for now to increase conservancy charges.

Ms Phua noted that estates varied in terms of age and programmes, which could account for differences in upkeep costs.

— TODAY/sc

From http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/03/09/2-pap-town-councils-raise-their-sc-charges-as-pap-ministers-look-forward-to-another-pay-hike/,

2 PAP Town Councils raise their S&C charges as PAP ministers look forward to another pay hike

Written by Our Correspondent

After proclaiming that the Singapore economy is set to start growing again this year, the PAP ministers have been quick to increase their own pay and now it seems that the Town Councils will be raising their S&C charges as well.

Two PAP Town Councils Aljunied and Jurong have announced that they will raise their monthly service and conservancy (S&C) charges from April onwards, citing “higher maintenance and operating costs.”

According to information posted on their websites, charges will go up by between 50 cents and $4.50 for Singapore homeowners, depending on the type of flat.

At least three angry readers have emailed us the flyers they received informing them of the hike in S&C charges:

Attached below are the revised charges for Aljunied:

One reader told us that he suspected that the hike is linked to the investment losses suffered by the Town Council:

“I don’t see the opposition wards increasing their S&C charges, why only us? How much did they lose in Lehman? Should open their accounts and let us residents have a look! Where is the transparency?”

Another added:

“To us a few dollars mean alot. We are not so rich like GIC which can afford to lose billions of dollars in a flash!”

Aljunied Town Council claimed on its website that “it was ‘no longer sustainable’ to maintain charges at the current level without running into an operating deficit. Keeping the current charges would mean deteriorating standards over time, which would only raise costs further.”

On their websites, both town councils said the increases were not tied to losses made in investments linked to the failed Lehman Brothers investment bank.

While the economy has improved this year, its effects are hardly felt by ordinary Singaporeans whose wages remain stagnant as the cost of living continues to rise.

As a certain percentage of their multi-million salary package is pegged to GDP growth, the PAP ministers are quick to raise their own salaries by an estimated 8.8 percent which will cost Singapore taxpayers another $58 million dollars or so.

A quick check reveals that the S&C charges for Potong Pasir are only about 70 to 80 percent that of Aljunied:

The hike in electrical tariffs and cleaning costs affect the whole of Singapore including Potong Pasir. Why then did Potong Pasir not increase its S&C charges. Are PAP MPs less efficient than opposition MPs in managing the Town Councils?

As expected, the state media jumped quickly to the defence of the PAP Town Councils without revealing the truth that the opposition is able to run their estates equally as well with less S&C charges.

It was reported in 2008 that the PAP Town Councils have accumulated millions of dollars in their sinking funds to save for rainy days.

The two PAP Town Councils should reveal their sinking funds before asking Singaporeans to pay more for the S&C charges.

why only this 2 GRC har?

This is ridiculous, the cleaners are not even sweeping and cleaning every day..even condo cleaners do a better job going thru every part of the condo. No one's checking on the cleaners' work and yet they dare to raise the fees.

This recent increase in conservancy charges is in bad taste, with S'pore just recovering from the ecohnomic crisis.

If no one apposes the increase in these 2 town councils, it will set a benchmark for the remaining town councils to increase prices.

I find the information on lift maintenance cost very amusing and is akin to telling a white lie to a 3 yr old.

The upgraded lifts are supposed to be more efficient in comsuming less electricity and cheaper to maintain with the latest technology, hence the lower (or similar) running costs.

The availability of more energy efficient and energy saving lighting should translate to simiular electricity bills as in 2004 even with an increase in electricity bills.

And are Foreign Talents (cleaners) genuinely more expensive to hire?

I condemn this increase in conservancy fees.

It is nothing more than a lame excuse to milk citizens' blood money.

Posted By henny on 10 Mar 2010 05:32 PM
This recent increase in conservancy charges is in bad taste, with S'pore just recovering from the ecohnomic crisis.

If no one apposes the increase in these 2 town councils, it will set a benchmark for the remaining town councils to increase prices.

I find the information on lift maintenance cost very amusing and is akin to telling a white lie to a 3 yr old.

The upgraded lifts are supposed to be more efficient in comsuming less electricity and cheaper to maintain with the latest technology, hence the lower (or similar) running costs.

The availability of more energy efficient and energy saving lighting should translate to simiular electricity bills as in 2004 even with an increase in electricity bills.

And are Foreign Talents (cleaners) genuinely more expensive to hire?

I condemn this increase in conservancy fees.

It is nothing more than a lame excuse to milk citizens' blood money.

Hahaha, maybe they're trying to hire more local cleaners now hence the increase :P

Fwah! Jurong and Aljunied are gng to be the cleanest estates and most efficient lifts in S'pore!