B.C.: 9.5% property tax increase proposed in Surrey budget for policing transition costs

In its Budget released in Saturday, the Surrey City Council proposed a 16.5% increase in property tax for 2023, which is largely being attributed to cover costs of the policing transition from the RCMP to the Surrey Police.

In a news release about the budget on Saturday, the city stated that a decision on Surrey policing is yet to be made, but the budget is based on the presumption that RCMP will stay as the police of jurisdiction.

Maintaining the Surrey RCMP will cost about $235 million less than the transition, however,”there remains a shortfall of $116.6 million created by the transition process.”

Aditionally, the budget also tables a seven per cent increase to the property tax accounting for inflation while undertaking general city-wide operations, and also, for 2023, for the hire of an additional 25 police officers, 20 firefighters and 10 bylaw officers, costing the average family in the city an extra $161 for the year, details the news release,

To fund the undertaking of the transition, the city also proposed a 9.5% General Property Tax rise, leading the average Surrey family to shell out $219 more in property taxes the next year, media reports detail.