Town Council losses SG$12M in Lehman Brothers' minibonds

Which two Town Council? Its Holland-Bukit Panjang and Pasir Ris-Punggol!!

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. Some residents who have been retrenched recently 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.

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.