Surrey's mayor says he wants the city's report into creating its own police force to be made public.

But Mayor Doug McCallum says he won't discuss what the cost for transitioning Surrey from an RCMP force to a civic force would cost.

"I have said a number of times, that as far as the city and as far as I’m concerned, the whole plan should be given out to the public. It should be given out right today," he told reporters.

Surrey sent its report to the provincial government for Solicitor General Mike Farnworth to review earlier this week.

Farnworth confirmed the province had received Surrey's proposal, but added that the process wouldn’t be rushed.

"Surrey's proposal for an independent police department is a statutory process that deals with many complex issues, so it will be important not to rush this," he said in a statement.

"Staff will now review and provide advice to me in my role as solicitor general to determine the next steps -- taking into consideration the thoroughness of the plan."

McCallum wouldn't be drawn into laying out how much changing Surrey's policing system would cost, and also said he didn't believe the decision to change should be chosen through a referendum.

"In cities and governments, you don’t see governments working by referendums on major items. You never see that in cities," he said.

He also laid out his expectations that his council's plan would be approved by the provincial government.

"We fully expect the provincial government to approve a city police force because we got elected on that basis."