Wild scenes at Surrey city hall as controversial five-year financial plan gets passed
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2019 04:51:49 +0000
Surrey’s controversial 2020 five-year financial plan was passed in a bizarre manner on Monday night after mayor Doug McCallum ruled opposition councillors would not be able to speak due to “safety conditions.”
Following that ruling, and despite a vocal protest from rival councillor Steven Pettigrew, McCallum quickly read out the number of each of the 33 bylaws related to the plan, his four loyal councillors supported them, and the meeting was recessed.
Before the vote, McCallum and councillors Doug Elford, Laurie Guerra, Mandeep Nagra and Allison Patton had walked out of chambers after being heckled by some of the hundreds of people gathered, many of whom had earlier been outside protesting. During this time, there were also people in the crowd shouting out in favour of McCallum and his Surrey police force plan.
The decision by council to spend $129 million to help create the municipal police force, while not funding more firefighters or building additional community resources for the growing community were at the heart of Monday’s protest — organized by former councillor Mike Starchuk.
The $129 million now approved for the police force is comprised of $45.2 million in 2020, then $84.4 million for additional policing costs spread out over five years.
Once the police force is operating in 2021 it is expected to cost around $205 million a year. Surrey will spend $162 million on the RCMP in 2019. Surrey’s total budget for 2020 will be $1.3 billion.
Just before walking out the first time, Coun. Guerra pointed out that in November 2018 council had been unanimous in its support for a municipal police force. She said Surrey, with a population of 550,000, was the only city in Canada with more than 300,000 people that did not have its own police force. The Safe Surrey Coalition, from which three sitting councillors have now defected, campaigned on the idea.
Now approved, the budget will see a 2.9 per cent hike in property tax and a big increase in user fees — energy-related fees from construction are expected to go from $2.8 million in 2020 to $8.6 million in 2025, while water rates will rise 2.9 per cent. Some garbage fees will also rise.
According to the plan, the city will lean more heavily on developers, with Community Amenity Contributions expected to be a “key factor in providing a balanced capital budget.” There is a hiring freeze for city staff, except for the Clayton Community Centre now being built.