I refer to the editorial “Desmond Lee, all town councils run deficits” (TR Emeritus, Nov 17).

Criticism on Aljunied’s operating deficit

It states that “Desmond Lee, the Minister of State for National Development and MP for Jurong GRC issued a statement on 7 Nov, criticising WP for accumulating arrears and running deficits in its town council, AHPETC.

All town councils run deficits

TRE examined the annual reports of several town councils and found that, in reality, all are running deficits. In fact, all require government grants in order to operate as the conservancy charges collected from HDB residents are not enough to cover expenses, generally speaking.”

AHPETC’s grant per elector was $29.07?

– Since the actual portion of the government grant applied to the income and expenditure statement of AHPETC was $4,875,452, does it mean that the grant per elector was $29.07 ($4,875,452 divided by 167,708 electors)?

Tanjong Pagar’s grant per elector was 93% more than Aljunied?

Similarly, the grant applied to the income and expenditure statement of Tanjong Pagar town council was $9,598,383 for 170,785 electors. S0, does it mean that the grant per elector was $56.20?

Why is it that Tanjong Pagar’s grant per elector seems to be 93% more than AHPETC?

How are the government grants determined for different town councils?

Tanjong Pagar’s deficit was actually $3.7m?

If Tanjong Pagar had been given the same “$29.07 per elector” grant as AHPETC, it would have ended up with a operating deficit of -$3,695,357 ($29.07 times 170,785 electors minus $8,660,077 deficit before government grants), instead of the reported operating surplus of $938,306.

“Redder” red card for Tanjong Pagar?

So, with an “equivalent” deficit of -$3,695,357 against AHPETC’s -$733,918 deficit – shouldn’t Tanjong Pagar be given a “redder” red score in the Town Councils Management Report than AHPETC’s?

Tanjong Pagar’s deficit 5 times more than Aljunied? 

Why is Tanjong Pagar apparently the “champion” of “town council deficits”, which was 5 times more than AHPETC’s?

So poor thing – Aljunied residents?

If I am not a resident of Aljunied – I probably wouldn’t have bothered to spend the time to discover the above.