Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman sent a letter to Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth on Oct. 4 concerning local businesses being saddled with a bigger tax bill in 2024 on account of two police forces operating in the city with no second-phase plan for replacing the Surrey RCMP with the Surrey Police Service.
“It has been 4 years since the beginning of the transition, and phase 1 has not been completed, and there is no plan for phase 2,” Huberman wrote to Farnworth. “On behalf of the Surrey Board of Trade and its 6,000 business contacts which employ over 60,000 employees, we write to ask for a clear and decisive phase 2 for Surrey’s public safety infrastructure, and enhanced investments in wrap-around services.”
The Now-Leader was not provided with an opportunity to ask Farnworth or Premier David Eby about this during their teleconference call with media on Thursday morning.
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On July 19 Farnworth ordered the City of Surrey to proceed with the Surrey Police Service and abandon its plan to retain the Surrey RCMP as the city’s police of jurisdiction.
“This decision is the final decision,” he said at the time. “I fully expect the elected government in Surrey will follow the law. I know that this is an extraordinary use of my powers under the Police Act, and I did not make this decision lightly.”
Earlier this week, Farnworth reiterated to reporters in Victoria on Oct. 3 that the decision to forge ahead with the Surrey Police Service is “final, and work on it continues.” In response to a question if the parties are working well together, he replied “certainly the province and the federal government are working very well…the best thing for the City of Surrey is to work closely with the province and the federal government.”
But Huberman’s letter indicates a lack of transparency and communication on the provincial government’s part.
“At the time of your decision, Jessica MacDonald was appointed as the liaison between the Provincial Government and the City of Surrey,” she wrote to Farnworth. “No public comments or materials have been released highlighting the work done thus far. We are deeply concerned with the lack of transparency and communication.”
Huberman stated in a subsequent press release that the Surrey Board of Trade is “very concerned about how a new police force, or two police forces in the interim, will impact business taxation.”
As Surrey consults with city taxpayers on the 2024 budget, she added, businesses and homeowners “are left with great uncertainty as to what their property tax bill will be next year.”
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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