Surrey to use $90M from provincial fund to reduce 17.5% property 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.

During a finance committee meeting on Monday, councillors voted to send the budget back to staff so an $89.9 million allotment from the province's Growing Communities Fund could be applied to the bottom line.

The billion-dollar fund was created by the province in part to spend some of its 2022-23 surplus, with the individual share given to municipalities announced last week. 

"And at such a perfect time, literally three days before we had to deliver the budget, they came up with that money," admitted Mayor Brenda Locke in a news conference following the meeting. 

"That has made all the difference in the world to what we're doing with this budget. So I'm very grateful for that and we will be moving forward in that vein."

The motion from councillors asked staff to use the money to cut the overall proposed property taxes from 17.5 per cent to no more than 12.5 per cent. That would reduce the tax increase for an average homeowner in Surrey from around $460 to $280, according to city staff estimates. 

The revised budget is expected to be ready for review at council's next meeting on April 6.

Police decision still upcoming

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

At the moment, Surrey is effectively paying for two police services — the Surrey Police Service (SPS) and the RCMP detachment — costing the city approximately $8 million extra each month, according to staff. 

"Carrying two police departments has put us in a difficult financial position," admitted Coun. Pardeep Kooner, a member of Locke's Surrey Connect party, who blamed "the previous mayor and team" for the high costs the city was facing.

Locke says Surrey's share of the provincial fund will shave five per cent off the cost of keeping the Mounties, but warned the budget would be "blown out of the water'' if Surrey is ordered to proceed with the switch to a municipal force.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth has said he expects a decision from his ministry on Surrey reverting back to the RCMP or staying with the transition to the SPS before property tax notices are mailed to residents in late May or early June.

The B.C. government approved the previous council's request for the transition to the SPS and must do the same for the move back to the RCMP.