Surrey mayor defends more than $1M spent on judicial review of police transition
Posted August 1, 2024 5:34 pm.
Surrey’s mayor is defending her decision to spend more than $1 million of taxpayer money to fund a failed legal fight to keep the RCMP in her city.
An 1130 News freedom of information request revealed that the city spent $1,283,066 on legal fees, but Locke says the total cost was closer to $2 million.
Brenda Locke says the judicial review was a necessary step to fully understand the cost of transitioning to the Surrey Police Service.
“I think it was important that we got all the information and got it out, and I think it was important to the public too,” she said.
“I think it was all a part of the process that we had to go through in order to make sure that we were going to be able to represent our constituents, our taxpayers.”
Locke says the review revealed that the Surrey Police Service would cost taxpayers roughly $300 million more than estimated.
“That is an accurate accounting of what this is going to be to residents of Surrey, and I think everybody wanted to know the cost,” she said.
“We know that now and we would not have without the review.”
The province has since pledged $250 million to support the transition.
