Free staff parking at schools a ‘taxable benefit’, not in line with clean wage policy: MOE

SINGAPORE – Explaining the move to charge teachers for parking their cars in schools, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said in response to media queries that it has “become increasingly clear that the current treatment of allowing school staff to park for free constitutes a taxable benefit”.

The ministry noted on Monday (March 26) that the “vast majority of school car parks are located near chargeable car parks and the car parks are intended for the use of staff and authorised visitors, with no access given to the general public”.

“As such, in line with (the Public Service Division’s) clean wage policy, an appropriate season parking charge in schools will be imposed,” it added.

In coming up with the season parking charges to be collected from staff, MOE said it considered inputs from a professional valuer, and took into account the “restrictions on staff parking due to many school car parks being reserved for school buses to park in the evenings and on weekends”. 

“Since school car parks are generally intended to be ‘dual use’ with clearly demarcated hours for school staff and for overnight school bus parking, MOE has set school season parking rates such that the total car park charges from both sets of season parking users are broadly comparable with HDB Tier 2 season rates,” said MOE.

To align with the “unique” school operating hours, where demand for parking fluctuates significantly between the school term and holidays, the ministry noted that the parking charges are correspondingly adjusted. “This better reflects a sense of fair charging for the teachers, and was an important feedback we took away from our consultations with school leaders on the implementation aspects of school parking charges,” said MOE. “Likewise, for ease of administration, MOE would also implement uniform parking charges for all schools regardless of location.”

Since October last year, all five polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education have been charging their staff for parking based on HDB carpark rates, which corresponds to S$80 for open spaces and S$110 for sheltered lots a month.

MOE said it has been working with the authorities to “determine an appropriate treatment for staff parking in schools”, after the Auditor-General’s Office pointed out in 2015 that free parking or parking charges that are below market rates at polytechnics and ITE were considered “hidden subsidies under the civil service’s clean wage policy”.

On Monday morning, teachers were briefed by their principals on the move, which will kick in from Aug 1.

Staff who drive cars have to pay S$720 annually for parking in uncovered lots and S$960 for covered lots. Meanwhile, those who ride motorcycles have to pay S$123 yearly for parking in uncovered lots and S$135 for covered lots.