Proposed hike to Surrey property tax prompts calls for audit of police transition costs

Homeowners in Surrey are facing what’s believed to be the biggest property tax hike in the city's history, if a proposed increase goes ahead.

"I certainly don’t feel good about this,” said Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke. “I don’t think any mayor would want to propose a tax increase like this.”

Over the Family Day long weekend, the city announced a proposed increase of 17.5 per cent. Nine-and-a-half per cent of that is for costs associated with policing as the city tries halt the transition from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service.

“To be clear, 9.5 per cent of this is specifically and only due to the police transition. And that 9.5 per cent will be removed hopefully by next year or the year after,” she said.

“It is a short-term increase only to deal with the issues that we face due to the mismanagement of the police transition.”

Coun. Linda Annis said the proposed increase amounts to about $400 annually for the average household.

“(It) is a very, very significant tax increase and one that the residents of Surrey can’t afford,” she said.

Annis is calling for an independent audit of Surrey’s police transition costs.

“If you ask the RCMP, the city staff, the mayor, or the Surrey Police Service, you get four different answers. We need to know what the answers are before we can make an informed decision,” she said.

The SPS also wants and independent audit.

“Surrey Police Service (SPS) has repeatedly disputed the financial numbers used by the city to arrive at inflated costs attributed solely to SPS,” said a news release from the police.

“Previously, the city attributed the same cost increases to the RCMP, citing the RCMP’s slower-than-anticipated rate of demobilization, security clearance delays, and lengthy RCMP decision-making process.”

The SPS said taxpayers should also consider that the “retention of the RCMP would actually cost taxpayers $50 million more in 2023 than continuing the transition to SPS. Keeping the RCMP, according to the SPS, will result in expenses related to "winding down" its operation.

“We are becoming increasingly concerned by the City of Surrey’s financial numbers that seem to be inflated and mischaracterized simply to call the viability of Surrey Police Service into question,” said Chief Const. Norm Lipinski.

“Surrey residents don’t know who to believe and, quite frankly, I don’t blame them.”

But Locke said she is confident that the city’s numbers are the right ones.

“All of our accounting is very clear that going forward with this Surrey Police Service is going to cost the residents dearly, not just today but for generations,” she said.

Meanwhile, business owners are also bracing for tax hikes.

“Surrey Board of Trade is very concerned for our members and their sustainability in the face of uncertainty,” said Anita Huberman, the board’s CEO.

“Their (business) property taxes will be higher than 17.5 per cent. Businesses always bear the greatest burden of taxation,” she said.

For example, she said in Surrey, manufacturers have faced steep hikes in taxes.

“They have faced a 150 per cent tax increase in some cases for the past three years,” she said.

Those tax increases came from various levels of government.

She calls Surrey’s policing cost problems a “a political experiment that went wrong and it’s the taxpayers, both residents and businesses, that are paying for this political disaster.”

If the proposed increases are approved for home owners, the City’s portion of property taxes for the average assessed single family home in Surrey would be $3,000. The City said that would place Surrey in the middle for property taxes collected for the respective average assessed home in Metro Vancouver.

The mayor told CTV News that if the tax increases aren’t approved, residents will face a cut in services, something they’ve already told council they don’t want.

A public hearing on the budget is set for March 6.