Certainly!
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Town Council losses: Let it not happen again
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MY HEART sank when I read about the possible loss of two town council's (Holland-Bukit Panjang and Pasir Ris-Punggol) conservancy fees incurred through their foray into the Lehman Brothers' minibonds.
The possible loss of a total sum of $12 million, a small percentage actually coming from the huge $2 billion conservancy fees collected over all these years, was not really what irked me.
Conservancy fees have been collected for many years by town councils, who use it to maintain and preserve our housing estates. My residence in Tampines is almost a perfect housing estate with a beautiful, lush garden park nearby, sheltered walkway and well-maintained surroundings. It is no wonder that the property prices in my area skyrocketed in the past year.
One of the town councils' duties is to maintain the estate and ensure that residents are able to return to a place that they can call home after a hard day's work. If there are excess fees collected, town councils can think of ways to further enhance the estate or even stop collecting fees for a few months, especially during this tough period. I know of some residents who have been retrenched recently who will welcome such a move as every cent count.
One wonders why town councils want to enhance the returns from fees collected by permitting as much as 35 per cent to go into risky investments. There is seriously no need to as the huge surplus accumulated when put into safer instruments such as fixed deposits or government bonds would generate not a small sum in return.
I advocate that the investment cap of 35 per cent for riskier instruments be reduced further to maybe no more than 5 per cent to ensure that town councils will not further expose the money to future risks.
Conservancy fees collected actually belong to the residents and not the Government. The town council is merely an agent appointed to utilise the money for the well being of the estate. A small percentage of the huge surplus money can also be used to help residents who may have difficulty paying the fees when they are jobless.
We have learnt our lessons now and let us not let it happened again. Gilbert Goh
Who have learnt their lesson? The Papayas? With none of them in sight to even say sorry? Or the coolier rice bowlers? Who will certainly return them to power with 99% mandate in 2009?
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Town Council losses: Let it not happen again
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MY HEART sank when I read about the possible loss of two town council's (Holland-Bukit Panjang and Pasir Ris-Punggol) conservancy fees incurred through their foray into the Lehman Brothers' minibonds.
The possible loss of a total sum of $12 million, a small percentage actually coming from the huge $2 billion conservancy fees collected over all these years, was not really what irked me.
Conservancy fees have been collected for many years by town councils, who use it to maintain and preserve our housing estates. My residence in Tampines is almost a perfect housing estate with a beautiful, lush garden park nearby, sheltered walkway and well-maintained surroundings. It is no wonder that the property prices in my area skyrocketed in the past year.
One of the town councils' duties is to maintain the estate and ensure that residents are able to return to a place that they can call home after a hard day's work. If there are excess fees collected, town councils can think of ways to further enhance the estate or even stop collecting fees for a few months, especially during this tough period. I know of some residents who have been retrenched recently who will welcome such a move as every cent count.
One wonders why town councils want to enhance the returns from fees collected by permitting as much as 35 per cent to go into risky investments. There is seriously no need to as the huge surplus accumulated when put into safer instruments such as fixed deposits or government bonds would generate not a small sum in return.
I advocate that the investment cap of 35 per cent for riskier instruments be reduced further to maybe no more than 5 per cent to ensure that town councils will not further expose the money to future risks.
Conservancy fees collected actually belong to the residents and not the Government. The town council is merely an agent appointed to utilise the money for the well being of the estate. A small percentage of the huge surplus money can also be used to help residents who may have difficulty paying the fees when they are jobless.
We have learnt our lessons now and let us not let it happened again. Gilbert Goh
Who have learnt their lesson? The Papayas? With none of them in sight to even say sorry? Or the coolier rice bowlers? Who will certainly return them to power with 99% mandate in 2009?
