Surrey’s 17.5% proposed property tax hike to be discussed Monday

The City of Surrey’s finance committee will be holding a public meeting to review the draft five-year financial plan this Monday.

The city council is proposing to raise property taxes by 17.5 per cent. According to the city, 9.5 percent of that tax raise will fund the police shortfall. Another seven per cent general tax increase will further fund policing, fire and bylaw services. The increase also includes a one per cent increase to the roads and traffic levy that will go to maintenance and improving the city’s transportation infrastructure.

Councillor Linda Annis is encouraging residents to get involved and express their opinion, whether it’s in support of or against the proposed budget. Annis says she is also concerned about the proposed tax hike.

“I’m deeply concerned. The residents of Surrey, I don’t believe can afford a 17.5 per cent tax increase and that doesn’t include a tax increase on our utilities as well. At this time, during such inflationary times and people are struggling financially, I think the budget increase is far too steep for the residents,” said Annis.

According to the city’s recommendation, the 9.5 per cent tax hike is estimated to offset the forecasted $116.6 million funding shortfall over the next three years. The calculation is part of the city’s plan to keep the RCMP as its police of jurisdiction instead of the Surrey Police Service (SPS). The city says keeping the RCMP will cost less than proceeding with the transition to SPS, which they say will cost $235 million more.

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke previously told CityNews that she was not happy about having to put the budget forward.

“There is probably not a mayor in Metro Vancouver that would want to put a budget forward like this, but we have no choice,” said Locke. “Unfortunately, the poor management of the previous council has left us in this very challenging position. But we’re going to be accountable to the public and we’re telling the public exactly what we have to do.”

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Anita Huberman, CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade says that the proposed tax increase is not only concerning for residents but also for businesses.

“It’s businesses that bear the greatest burden of taxation. It is unclear as to what businesses are going to pay when they receive their property tax bill in July, because every industry classification, every business has different property sizes, different uses for their land,” Huberman said. “We know in the previous three years, there are some businesses in our manufacturing sector that have faced property tax increases as high as 150 per cent, per year in each of the past three years.”

Huberman says there’s a general feeling of exhaustion among business owners- apart from rising taxation costs, she says businesses also face labour challenges, rising interest rates, supply chain and economic challenges.

The business group continues to advocate for a corporate vote that would allow businesses in the city to vote in municipal and provincial elections.

“They should have the ability in a very strategic structured, responsible way through the electoral process to be able to have a voice in terms of where their tax dollars are being spent. And so we are hoping for the reimplementation of the corporate vote.”

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With the public hearing set to happen Monday afternoon, Huberman says the city needs to “improve their mechanisms on public input.”

“They made some good first steps in terms of some public consultation, but really, that was oriented towards residents,” said Huberman.”Businesses, you know, they run their businesses on different cycles. Certainly, two o’clock is very inconvenient for them to express their perspective.”

Annis says a finance committee meeting tackling the magnitude of a 17.5 per cent increase should also be done at a time convenient to residents.

“Most people are working or are busy picking up their kids from school at that time of day. I do believe that this kind of meeting should be held in the evening. When it’s more accessible for people to attend,” Annis said.

The city was open for written comments, which ended March 3rd.

“But really, it’s the public perspective, the in-person perspective that really matters to Mayor and council when they make that eventual decision on property tax increases,” Huberman said.

Annis says after the public hearing, the council is set to convene on March 6th for their first set of votes.