Surrey's mayor is defending plans to axe capital projects that were approved by the previous council as the city looks to reduce its debt.
"We will not borrow anymore. We need to live within our means in Surrey, and that's what our residents elected us to do," Doug McCallum told reporters Tuesday, a day after the city unveiled its proposed budget.
But doing so will mean prioritizing certain projects over others, the mayor said.
The new budget suggests postponing work on the new Cloverdale Sports and Ice Complex intended to replace the area's aging rink. McCallum said addressing the structural problems with the ground underneath the facility would put to project "considerably" over its initial $45 million budget.
"We felt at this time that the Cloverdale was one that we needed to postpone for a while to reduce some of our debt," McCallum said, citing what he called decreasing use of rinks in the city.
But Surrey parents say if enrollment in minor hockey has gone down, it's not because kids don't want to play, but because of a lack of available ice time.
"I have a 13-year-old kid that's getting up at four o'clock in the morning just to play a sport," hockey mom Tanya McDowall told CTV News. "Soccer doesn't have to do that. Baseball doesn't have to do it."
Ice time is so limited that Surrey Female Hockey has to use arenas in other communities.
"We actually have to drive down to Delta (Great Pacific Forum) for their practices," said Mike Dola, president of the Cloverdale Community Association.
Bola said the association has bene pushing for a new rink since 2014.
"We're really upset with the proposal of taking out the Cloverdale arena," he said.
According to the mayor, the city is looking to shave nearly $136 million off its $514 million debt—a number McCallum keeps citing despite the fact that the city has admitted it is a projected figure. According to Surrey's 2017 budget, the city's current debt is actually nearly half of that: $267 million.
McCallum said the cinched budget will save the city some $9.5 million a year in principal and interest payments on that debt, adding that Surrey will take a pay-as-you-go approach to future capital projects.
But one councillor said Surrey needs to bear in mind the rapid rate at which the city is growing when it comes to managing its infrastructure.
"I think we have to be very careful reducing the building of infrastructure," Coun. Linda Annis said. "We've got so many people moving in the City of Surrey."
The city has spent more than $2.9 million on site prep and roadwork at the future home of the Cloverdale complex.
Other initiatives that would be halted under the proposed budget include 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.
McCallum said the city will continue to fund projects in areas where council wants to encourage densification, including a new community centre for the Clayton area.
"We are building within our means as our community grows," he said.
As part of the draft budget, McCallum said his government is keeping its campaign promise to limit tax increases to the Consumer Price Index.
The inflation rate for B.C. currently sits at about three per cent. Under the proposed budget, taxes would rise by 2.9 per cent.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Michele Brunoro
