Delays to capital projects inevitable, Surrey councillor says, as mayor set to speak to proposed budget

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Mayor Doug McCallum is refusing to talk about his city’s budget until later this morning, but one councillor says there’s a fine balance between keeping taxes low and building new infrastructure.

Surrey City Councillor Linda Annis says she’s certain major promises made by Mayor Doug McCallum like SkyTrain and a municipal police force will continue.

But that comes at a cost, she adds.

“I think we’re all very happy to have the lowest tax rate and also to have one of the lowest debt ratios. So if we want to maintain that, then we have to make some hard choices.”

Annis says if Surrey wants to keep taxes low, it’ll have to keep a tighter reign on spending.

“When it comes down to budget time, we do have to be mindful that we have very low taxes here and that we also have very low debt to per person in the City of Surrey, and that we should be thankful for that. And if we’re wanting to build infrastructure, it’s not always bad to necessarily go into debt.”

She says if people are prepared to pay more or increase the debt to build infrastructure, it can happen.

Annis adds delays to capital projects are inevitable as the city tackles its debt.

Mayor and council will meet next Tuesday to go over the budget at the city’s finance meeting.

This comes after a troubling announcement from Mayor Doug McCallum last week, who claimed the city was carrying a $514-million debt load. Currently, that debt load is closer to $316 million and stems from projects approved by the previous council.

McCallum is expected to address the city’s budget publicly this morning — around 9:00 a.m.

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