MND: S$1.8 million adjustment to be paid to town councils over 14-year grant discrepancy

SINGAPORE: A one-time grant adjustment of S$1.8 million will be distributed among 18 town councils to correct a discrepancy that affected operating grant disbursements over a 14-year period.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) said in a media release on 29 December 2025 that the adjustment relates to the Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) Operating Grant.

The individual amounts to be paid to town councils range from S$22,000 to S$383,000, depending on the extent of the underpayment incurred during the affected financial years.

According to MND, the discrepancy arose from an error in grant disbursement calculations spanning the 2011 to 2024 financial years, which resulted in a cumulative shortfall to the affected town councils.

The issue was identified by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) during an internal review of the grant computation process.

MND explained that S&CC operating grants are calculated annually based on household data collected before the start of each financial year.

For each disbursement, the grant amount is subsequently adjusted to reflect changes in the number of households compared with the previous year.

However, due to a system error between FY2011 and FY2024, a small number of HDB flats handed over to town councils in March of the affected years were omitted from the grant computation.

As a result, the grant amounts for those years were marginally lower than what should have been disbursed.

MND noted that the discrepancy for each affected year was not carried forward, as the omitted flats were included in the grant computation in the following financial year.

This meant that while the underpayment was limited to individual years, the cumulative effect over 14 years resulted in the S$1.8 million shortfall.

The ministry said the total deficit represents approximately 0.09 per cent of the S&CC grant sums disbursed over the period.

It added that the shortfall would have had minimal impact on the day-to-day operations of the town councils involved.

MND currently disburses more than S$280 million annually in grants to support town councils’ operations.

These operations include the management and maintenance of common areas in HDB housing estates, such as estate cleanliness, lift maintenance, and essential repairs.

The ministry said the discrepancy has since been rectified following the review.

“To prevent recurrence, HDB has implemented more robust system checks, as well as validation and reconciliation controls as part of the grant computation process,” MND said.

MND added that it is working with HDB to ensure that similar errors do not occur in future grant calculations.

The underpaid amounts will be fully disbursed to the affected town councils, together with interest, by 31 January 2026.