New budget year starts Jan. 1, but council and the community have seen nothing yet, said Councillor Linda Annis.  Annis said Monday that the statement from Surrey City Hall that the city’s annual budget isn’t due until mid-May is a “sloppy technicality” that flies in the face of good fiscal management, and should worry taxpayers.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

SURREY -Surrey First Councillor Linda Annis is asking where Surrey’s 2022 budget is and why it is being pushed to May 2022.

Annis said Monday that the statement from Surrey City Hall that the city’s annual budget isn’t due until mid-May is a “sloppy technicality” that flies in the face of good fiscal management, and should worry taxpayers.

“Our city’s 2022 budget is now a month late and has yet to be presented to councillors and the community, which means city hall will head into the new year without an approved budget,” noted Annis. “The statement from the city that the budget isn’t due until May of next year is ridiculous and nothing more than a convenient loophole that the mayor is using to keep things from the community. There is no excuse for not meeting the traditional and best practice deadlines council follows each year.

“By our usual standards the city’s 2022 budget is late and council and the community have had no explanation from Doug McCallum,” said Annis. “Normally, councillors would have seen a draft budget a month ago, with the public given time to comment and ask questions. So far we’ve heard nothing, which means we’re heading into 2022 with no approved budget, which says one of two things: we’re not managing our finances well, or the budget is not going to be good news for taxpayers and the community.”

Annis said the mayor is not known for community consultation, but the city is required to give Surrey residents time to review and react to the budget.

“Frankly, if we’re sticking to that public process then there is no time for council to approve the 2022 budget before the new year, which is no way to run a city with an annual budget in excess of $1.2 billion,” added Annis. “The longer this takes, the more worried Surrey voters should be about the city’s finances and their 2022 property taxes. Why is this taking so long, what’s caused this delay, what is the bad news for taxpayers, and how much of this is connected to the excessive transition spending by Doug McCallum and the Surrey Police Service (SPS)?”

Annis said the police transition has already siphoned off every available dollar at city hall and there’s no end in sight.

“Before the province put a cap on recruitment to protect public safety across the region, my estimate was a transition bill to taxpayers of at least $200 million,” said Annis. “Now that there is a cap on recruitment, which slows things down and adds extra costs, watch the bill to be well past $200 million. You can imagine the negative impact a hit like that will have on our city’s finances. The choice will be either higher taxes or cutting back expenditures in other areas, including parks, rinks, rec centres and libraries.”

Annis said the city’s finance department provides regular financial updates throughout the year, so there should be no surprises when it comes to pulling next year’s budget together.

“City staff know the numbers, so this delay feels political on the part of the mayor and begs the question, what has happened financially to slow down this coming year’s budget? Something definitely doesn’t feel right and taxpayers should be nervous, particularly when you have a mayor who makes more and more decisions behind closed doors, bans people from council, and does everything possible to avoid taxpayer questions. If we’ve learned anything about Doug McCallum’s my-way-or-the-highway approach to running Surrey, transparency and accountability are not priorities. The fact is, the less taxpayers know, the happier Doug McCallum is.”