HOUSING Board residents would dwell more profitably on how well town councils have performed in managing their estates than on how badly a few of them have lost in investing in structured products. Enough has been said in Parliament on the matter.

In this season of globalised financial misery, more than 100 local councils in Britain, along with police forces, fire brigades and transport services, have had hundreds of millions of pounds in assets frozen in banks in Iceland, some of which will be total losses.

Town councils and their clients here ought to be able to take the investment setback in their stride, psychologically as well as financially. The $16 million paper loss incurred in total amounts to 0.8 per cent of the 14 PAP councils' investible funds.

It is not a small absolute sum, but not a big proportion of organisations - for profit or non-profit - as well as individuals have been able to protect all of their investments in the collapsing market.

Besides keeping a sense of proportion, one should get back to basics. Town councils should be expected to acquit themselves better in their primary function of keeping estates clean, safe and in good repair than in searching out the highest rates of return on investing their funds. And they have done well, by any measure.
There are residents who will find a reason to grumble about lapses in service, but the councils have generally delivered on services of a standard expected of them.

If more transparency is needed on their finances, additional requirements may be instituted for reporting more frequently than the annual accounting. Or the 35 per cent cap imposed last December on riskier investment could be reduced.

What matters more fundamentally, however, is enhancing accountability by measuring town councils' performance of the civic role they were set up for.

Effective though they have been, they could do with more consultations with residents - to find out if all the amenities they provide are indeed needed, if some of the demolitions and repairs between upgrading projects are not unnecessary, or if any of the walkway or rest- area design is too elaborate and expensive (not to say, to put it mildly, in unusual taste).

If residents are concerned about financial prudence, they should ask if they are getting the most for their money from the councils in cleaning service, lift maintenance, common area energy consumption and so on.

More of such data should be made publicly available, to provide an objective basis to compare council performances. Perhaps there should be an annual competition to recognise the council with the best service performance. It could contribute to reinforcing not only service excellence but also financial responsibility where it really counts.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on November 20, 2008.