Jalan Besar Town Council had took an unemployed man to court for arrears S&C arrears of $432!
In a letter written to the Straits Times Forum, Mr Lim Beo Thiam, a 52 year old who has been unemployed for 18 months and lost part of a leg through diabetes relates his unhappy experience with his Town Council. (read letter here)
He claimed that this is the first time he did not pay the S&C charges due to financial difficulties and he was taken to court by Jalan Besar Town Council.
His new debts now ballooned to more than $1,000 which included court penalties and late payment charges.
“When I tried to settle subsequent S&C charges to avoid a fresh spiral of hefty penalties for non-payment, I was rejected. The town council ruled that I had to settle the old debt before I could pay the new charges. Naturally, this led to more penalties as my fresh S&C arrears spiked. So, I am now some $3,000 in debt to my town council,” he added.
Mr Lim wrote that he has appealed to his Member of Parliament for help many times but the final reply invariably remained unchanged: pay up.
He lampooned the Town Councils for hoarding extra revenue collected instead of helping needy residents like himself:
“Town councils shouldn’t be surprised if residents like myself, who face tough times, wonder why we aren’t being helped via the excess revenue collected; revenue which is instead ploughed into loss-making investments. Shouldn’t any excess revenue be refunded to residents via rebates? If town councils are keen to invest, set up a fund offering soft loans to residents to tide them over tough times and pay service and conservancy charges.”
His letter attracted a fresh barrage of criticisms at the government with many netizens expressing their support and sympathy for him.
Wrote between777:
“seems the govt is pushing the buck and trying to get town councils to make more money as it focuses even on getting town councils to recover arrears – which in these times, there are a fair number who cant barely afford to pay – but yet this is on the agenda – whereas Investments by town councils are NOT graded – and this is especially impt bec the town councils LOST some nearly $20 million in the lehman fiasco! And the govt can spent $100 million just to host a 3-day APEC Summit! which is more to a ego trip – as in all honesty such APEC or even ASEAN have all along been making alot of talk but never walk their talk – and in fact even within ASEAN there are many issues yet to be even worked on and the many barriers to free trade within the group.”
Added anlibeth2000:
“Having a report card to monitor the town council’s performance is a good ideal but collecting of the outstanding arrears is otherwise. Whoever owes the town council are likely to be the poor of the poor. Fancy writing off 16 millions in lost of investment and here they are squeezing your poor citizen till the last drop of blood. Not only that , if for any reason you happen to owe them they will impose penalties, late payment charges, court charges, so that they are quite similar to the loan shark charges.
12 months outstanding of $36 x 12 = $432. Penalties $561 plus $50 legal fees. Total to claim $1043. If these don’t work they will get a court action to seize your household items until you have nowhere to run. Yes I had personally experienced it. Forget about seeking your MP’s help because they are of the same office. (N/B The MP take charges of the town council) After auctioning your item that will not be enough they will start the proceduring all over again. One would have been better off if they borrowed from a loan shark to pay them off. However the SPF had cleared a lot from their business and seeking a loan shark is not easy nowaday.”
Source: http://sgforums.com/forums/10/topics/383860