New provincial fund could help shave 5% off Surrey’s proposed 17.5% tax hike

Councillors in Surrey, B.C., plan to use newly allotted provincial funding to reduce the city's proposed 17.5 per cent property tax increase slated for the 2023 civic budget.

Mayor Brenda Locke kicked off a finance committee meeting on Monday with the announcement that, thanks to recently announced infrastructure funding from the province, that tax hike could be cut by 5 per cent – dropping down to a proposed 12.5 per cent increase.

“Since the proposed budget was made public two weeks ago, the city has secured nearly $90 million from the province of British Columbia,” said Locke. “As a result, we are now in a position to revise the budget and bring the overall property tax rate down.”

Locke says if approved, the budget would translate to an average property tax increase of $280 for the average single family home.

Nearly 10 per cent of the original 17.5 per cent tax hike was related to the cost of Locke's pledge to keep the Surrey RCMP detachment and scrap a transition to a municipal police force.

Locke says the provincial funding, which is coming from the Growing Communities Fund announced by the province last Friday, will be used to drive down the policing shortfall portion of property taxes from 9.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

Another 7 per cent of the proposed increase is set aside for “general inflationary pressures,” city-wide operations and the hiring of an additional 25 police officers, 20 firefighters and 10 bylaw officers in 2023. The remaining 1 per cent would be allotted to “roads and traffic levy,” according to the proposal.

The current budget numbers are contingent on the move to the RCMP, meaning the numbers will change if the province does not approve Surrey’s plan.

The province is still in the process of making its decision on the city’s proposal to stop the transition to the Surrey Police Service and stick with the RCMP. The city is currently spending $8 million a month to support both police and RCMP sworn members, according to its finance department.

During Monday’s meeting, the contentious debate over policing and its cost was front and center.

Several residents took to the podium to voice their frustrations, anger and concern over the possible increase, with many on council agreeing the burden on the taxpayer is too high.

Locke is pointing the finger at the previous council to explain her government’s double-digit property tax hike proposal.

“We came into a mess. We came into a council that was filled with poison pills, with mismanagement for four years, and we have to right a wrong,” said Locke.

“We have a city that is moving forward and this is a very forward facing budget. Even though the cost of it is quite high, Surrey is still on the lower third of all Metro Vancouver municipalities,” the mayor added.

The revised budget with the proposed property tax drop is now going back to city staff and will be presented to council at its next meeting on April 6.

 With files from The Canadian Press.