Town Councils (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 26/1996

Read the first time on 27th August 1996.

An Act to amend the Town Councils Act (Chapter 329A of the 1989 Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Town Councils (Amendment) Act 1996 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2(1) of the Town Councils Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “for the purpose of carrying on any business” in the fourth and fifth lines of the definition of “commercial property” and substituting the words “wholly or partly as a shop, office, creche, public hall, a residential institution providing accommodation or care to persons in need of care, or an institution providing education or instruction”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “or partly” in the fifth line of the definition of “residential property”.

Amendment of section 3

3. Section 3 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (1), the following subsection:

“(1A) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Minister may, on the expiration of 8 days after the date of publication of the results of any general election in the Gazette under section 51 of the Parliamentary Elections Act [Cap. 218], by order under subsection (1) declare each constituency to be a Town except those constituencies whose Members of Parliament have agreed to their constituencies being declared to be a Town.”;

(b)

by inserting, immediately after the words “former constituency within a Town” in the third line of subsection (3), the words “or any part of a former constituency within a Town (referred to in this section as the relevant area)”;

(c)

by inserting, immediately after the words “within that area” in the eleventh line of subsection (3), the words “as if the order had not been made”; and

(d)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (3), the following subsection:

“(3A) Nothing in subsection (3) shall authorise the Town Council of the Town firstmentioned therein to draw on either —

(a)	any surpluses of the Town Council which are required under section 33A to be transferred to its sinking funds; or
(b)	any balance of those surpluses,

to maintain and manage the common property of the residential and commercial property in the housing estates of the Board within the relevant area.”.

Amendment of section 8

4. Section 8(1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting paragraph (b) and substituting the following paragraph:

“(b)

such other members appointed by the chairman in accordance with subsection (2) —

(i)	being not more than 10 members for every Member of Parliament required to be returned at a general election or by-election for the constituencies comprised within the Town; or
(ii)	being not more than 30 members,

whichever is the greater but in any case being not less than 6 members.”.

Amendment of section 12

5. Section 12(4) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “in the manner prescribed in section 9” at the end thereof and substituting the words “and section 9 shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to such appointment”.

Amendment of section 19

6. Section 19 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and substituting the following paragraph:

“(a)	with the prior written consent of the Board, establish and maintain places and facilities on or make improvements to the common property of the residential and commercial property for the benefit of residents of housing estates of the Board within the Town;”;

(b)

by deleting paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (1) and substituting the following paragraph:

“(c)

impose charges for such use of any part of the common property as the Minister may prescribe, or for the use of any facility or service provided, or for any improvements to the common property made, by the Town Council as it considers necessary, except that no charge shall be imposed for the use by the Board or its agents of any part of the common property;”;

(c)

by inserting, immediately after the words “food centre of” in the third line of subsection (2), the words “the Board or”; and

(d)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (2), the following subsections:

“(3) A Town Council may, on the request of any public authority or any community-based association, and with the approval of the Minister, carry out any work on behalf of the public authority or association on any property within the Town upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed between the Town Council and the public authority or association, as the case may be.

(4) The Minister may, in prescribing the uses for which charges may be imposed under subsection (1)(c), exempt any person or class of persons from the payment of such charges.”.

Amendment of section 24

7. Section 24 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “, with the approval of the Minister,” in subsections (1) and (2);

(b)

by deleting subsection (4) and substituting the following subsections:

“(4) Every by-law or amendment of or addition to or revocation of or substitution for any by-law made by a Town Council shall come into operation upon the date specified therein but shall cease to have effect upon the expiration of a period of one month from the date of its publication in the Gazette if prior to the expiration of that period it has been disapproved by the Minister by order published in the Gazette.

(4A) Any order made by the Minister under subsection (4) shall have effect upon the date specified therein but shall not affect the validity of anything previously done under the disapproved by-law.

(4B) Every by-law or amendment of or addition to or revocation of or substitution for any by-law of a Town Council shall, within 15 days of its coming into operation, be displayed in such places within the Town as the Town Council may direct.”; and

(c)

by deleting “$1,000” at the end of subsection (7) and substituting “$5,000”.

Amendment of section 33

8. Section 33 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (8), the following subsection:

“(8A) Notwithstanding anything in this section, upon the registration of the strata title plan in respect of any designated land, the Town Council responsible for the common property of the designated land shall as soon as practicable transfer to the management corporation for the designated land moneys standing to the credit of such of the funds (including sinking funds) of the Town Council Fund which relate to the designated land.”;

(b)

by deleting the words “or where the area of a Town is altered” in the first and second lines of subsection (9) and substituting the words “other than in consequence of any general election or by-election”; and

(c)

by deleting subsection (10) and substituting the following subsection:

“(10) In this section —

“designated land” means any land or housing estate vested in the Board which the Minister, by notification in the Gazette, designates as land to which section 126A of the Land Titles (Strata) Act [Cap. 158] applies;

“other commercial property” means any commercial property which does not form part of any residential property.”.

New section 33A

9. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 33, the following section:

“Transfer of surpluses after election

33A.—(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, where —

(a)	a writ of election is issued in respect of any constituency the area of which forms wholly or partly the area of a Town or any constituency part of which forms the area of a Town; and
(b)	there is shown in the audited balance-sheet for the last completed financial year of the Town Council for that Town immediately before the issue of that writ any excess of revenue over expenditure in any fund (other than a sinking fund) established by the Town Council under section 33,

the Town Council shall, as soon as practicable after the relevant date specified in sub-paragraph (i) or (ii), transfer in accordance with this section the excess in every such fund (referred to in this Act as its surpluses) to such sinking fund of that Town Council as may be prescribed:

(i)	the date on which the results of the election in the constituency are published in accordance with the Parliamentary Elections Act [Cap. 218]; or
(ii)	where a writ of election is issued in respect of more than one such constituency, the latest date among the dates on which the results of the election in each such constituency are published in accordance with that Act.

(2) Where there is an election in any or every whole constituency within a Town without any prior alteration to the boundaries of such constituency, the Town Council for the Town shall, subject to subsection (6), transfer its surpluses in the following manner:

(a)	if the Member or Members elected and the previous Member or Members for the constituency stood in elections for the same political party — 80% of its surpluses relating to such area of the Town comprised in that constituency shall be transferred to the prescribed sinking funds of the Town Council relating to that area; or
(b)	if the Member or Members elected and the previous Member or Members for the constituency stood in elections for different political parties — all its surpluses relating to such area of the Town comprised in that constituency shall be transferred to the prescribed sinking funds of the Town Council relating to that area.

(3) Where the boundaries of any constituency within a Town are altered under the Parliamentary Elections Act [Cap. 218] and there is an election in any or every new constituency so formed —

(a)	any order made under section 3 declaring the constituency to be or to form part of the Town, and any order made under section 4 establishing a Town Council for that Town, shall not be invalidated on account of such alteration in the boundaries but shall remain valid and of full force until expressly revoked or amended; and
(b)	except as otherwise provided in subsections (4), (5) and (6), the Town Council shall transfer 80% of its surpluses to the prescribed sinking funds of the Town Council.

(4) Where all or any of the constituencies within a Town have been amalgamated under the Parliamentary Elections Act [Cap. 218] to form a new constituency the total area of which, either alone or together with the other constituencies, remains identical to that of the Town, and there is an election in the new constituency, the Town Council for that Town shall, subject to subsection (6), transfer its surpluses in the following manner:

(a)	if the Member or Members elected for the new constituency and the previous Members of the amalgamated former constituencies stood in elections for the same political party — 80% of its surpluses relating to such area of the Town comprised in that new constituency shall be transferred to the prescribed sinking funds of the Town Council relating to that area; or
(b)	if the Member or Members elected for the new constituency and the previous Members of the amalgamated former constituencies stood in elections for different political parties — all its surpluses relating to such area of the Town comprised in that new constituency shall be transferred to the prescribed sinking funds of the Town Council relating to that area.

(5) Where all or any of the constituencies within a Town have been subdivided under the Parliamentary Elections Act to form new constituencies the total area of which, whether on their own or together with other constituencies, remains identical to that of the Town, and there is an election in any of the new constituencies, the Town Council shall, subject to subsection (6), transfer its surpluses in the following manner:

(a)	if the Member or Members elected for any such new constituency and the previous Member or Members of the subdivided former constituency stood in elections for the same political party 80% of its surpluses relating to such area of the Town comprised in that new constituency shall be transferred to the prescribed sinking funds of the Town Council relating to that area; or
(b)	if the Member or Members elected for any such new constituency and the previous Member or Members of the subdivided former constituency stood in elections for different political parties — all its surpluses relating to such area of the Town comprised in that new constituency shall be transferred to the prescribed sinking funds of the Town Council relating to that area.

(6) Nothing in this section shall require a Town Council for a Town to transfer to any of its sinking funds any part of its surpluses which —

(a)	are fixed assets owned by the Town Council on the day immediately before a writ of election is issued in respect of any constituency within the Town; or
(b)	are necessary to meet any capital commitments made or entered into by that Town Council on or before that same day.

(7) For the purposes of this section —

(a)	an independent candidate shall be regarded as standing in an election for a political party comprising himself; and
(b)	independent candidates standing for election as a group shall be regarded as standing in an election for a political party comprising members of that group.

(8) In this section —

“election” and “group” have the same respective meanings as in the Parliamentary Elections Act [Cap. 218];

“independent candidate” means a person who does not stand in an election for any political party, whether individually or in a group;

“Member” means an elected Member of Parliament;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister and published in the Gazette;

“previous Member”, in relation to a constituency where an election is held, means the Member elected at an election immediately preceding the first-mentioned election for —

(a)	the constituency;
(b)	any former constituency of which the constituency was part; or
(c)	any former constituency forming part of the constituency;

“sinking fund”, in relation to a Town Council, means a sinking fund established by the Town Council under section 33(4);

“writ of election” means a writ of election issued under section 24 of the Parliamentary Elections Act.”.

Amendment of section 43

10. Section 43 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “section 74” in the first line of subsection (9) and substituting the words “section 80”; and

(b)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (10), the following subsection:

“(11) For the purpose of estimating the value of any movable property belonging to the owner of a flat under subsection (5), a Town Council may, by its employees or agents, enter upon the flat to carry out such valuation at any reasonable time after giving notice to any occupier of the flat.”.

Amendment of section 43E

11. Section 43E of the principal Act is amended by deleting “$400” at the end thereof and substituting “$1,000”.

Amendment of section 45

12. Section 45 of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “charges, fees or expenses” wherever they appear therein, the words “or any penalties for late payment of such charges or fees”.

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