Surrey voters need the facts, not multiple financial numbers from the SPS, RCMP and city hall: Councillor Linda Annis

Surrey, B.C. (January 6, 2023): Surrey First Councillor Linda Annis says a statement from Mayor Brenda Locke today claiming there would be a 55 per cent tax increase to continue with the Surrey police transition is a scare tactic that continues to muddy the waters and reinforces the need for real, independent financial numbers around the choice of police services.

“I have always wanted the real facts and frankly was shocked that the city identified more than 40 different assumptions that had to be made as it prepared its report on the cost of the transition,“ noted Annis. “That’s a ridiculous number of assumptions and begs the question, just how much of the financial report can we take seriously, and that applies to the mayor’s 55 per cent tax increase statement.”

Annis said there should have been an “independent set of eyes” on the financial numbers around transition.

“Instead, we have numbers from the SPS, the RCMP, and the city, and these multiple versions continue to leave Surrey taxpayers on the sideline and in the dark about the real facts,” added Annis. “As a result, this statement from the mayor about a 55 per cent tax increase adds even more confusion and doubt, and really feels like a last-ditch effort to scare Surrey voters, rather than inform them with the real financial facts and figures.”