City councillors in Surrey, B.C. narrowly approved a controversial financial plan Monday that could have a serious impact on capital projects and policing in the city.

The proposed budget had already survived a split vote by the city's finance committee early last week.

It won't be formally passed until it receives a final reading during a special meeting that's expected to be held on Wednesday. But its approval in Monday's 5-4 vote brings projects such as the new Cloverdale Sports and Ice Complex one step closer to being put on hold as Surrey tries to reduce its debt load.

The new arena was intended to replace the area's aging rink, but Mayor Doug McCallum has said structural problems with the ground underneath the facility would put to project "considerably" over its initial $45 million budget.

The cinched budget would also put the $58-million Grandview Heights Community Centre and Library, the Fleetwood Community Centre and Library expansion, modular child care facilities, the Indigenous Gathering Place and infrastructure used by the RCMP on the chopping block.

McCallum said his Safe Surrey Coalition's cinched budget will save the city some $9.5 million a year in principal and interest payments on its debt, adding that Surrey will take a pay-as-you-go approach to future capital projects.

At last week's meeting, however, the finance committee got an earful from residents concerned about the proposed delays, with some of the councillors who opposed the budget echoing those concerns.

Councillors Brenda Locke, Linda Annis, Jack Hundial and Steven Pettigrew voted against the financial plan Monday, some reiterating their concerns about the future of Surrey's capital projects.

"We're here to build the infrastructure, not take it away, and I believe this budget takes away the infrastructure and is doing the exact opposite of what I said I was going to do if I was on council," Pettigrew said during the meeting.

The proposed budget also includes cancelling a plan to hire 12 additional RCMP officers to join the local detachment—a suggestion that has sparked outcry among those concerned with the city's ongoing gang issues.

“I’m extremely disappointed. There’s been a lot of violent crime going on and the RCMP don’t have the resources to catch these individuals or keep the community safe. Losing 12 police officers is incredibly disheartening,” Darlene Bennett, the widow of an innocent man killed in a suspected hit gone wrong, told CTV News this month.

McCallum campaigned on a promise to switch to a dedicated municipal police force as a way of addressing the city's growing crime problem, but the costly transition will likely take years if it materializes at all.

Inflated debt figures

The cost-cutting measures included in the financial plan are aimed at slashing nearly $136 million from Surrey's debt, which the mayor has repeatedly cited at $514 million.

That number, however, has become the subject of considerable scrutiny.

The city has admitted McCallum's figure is a projected one. According to Surrey's 2017 budget, the city's current debt is actually nearly half of that: $267 million. And much of that debt is tied to infrastructure or construction projects.

Provincial regulations, in fact, prohibit municipalities from running an operating deficit.

Correction: A previous version of this story erroneously referenced "skyrocketing" crime in Surrey. Surrey RCMP noted the 10-year crime trend shows decreasing crime rates, and that violent crime was down 16 per cent in the third quarter of 2018.