Attendees storm out, Surrey capital projects delayed as council passes controversial budget

SURREY (NEWS 1130) — The Surrey city council has passed a controversial operating budget that delays capital projects such as a new ice rink in Cloverdale.

In a five-to-four vote for the new budget, Surrey’s councillors have approved new cost cutting which Mayor Doug McCallum sees as necessary to keep the city’s debt manageable, pinning him against some Surreyites who want new an improved services instead, most famously a new Cloverdale Arena. The vote also will give seniors major discounts at rec centres.

Some attendees stormed out the of the council chamber after the vote and some parents in attendance say they are disappointed with the vote. For them it means they have to drive their kids out to other municipalities for hockey practices, which they say negatively affects the kids’ performance at school.

Manvir Kajla says she has emailed the council about voting the budget down but has only received answers from two of them. She says there is no change in government after the municipal election last October.

“These guys are pointing fingers at the ones that were in the year before them, but what’s different about them? Nothing, in my eyes it’s the same again,” she says. “They need our votes when they’re running, and once they’re in, it does not matter what the community says. They’re going to do what they want to do.”

She adds there was no mention of a postponement of the Cloverdale ice rink or the Grandview Heights library.

“I’d rather pay more on my taxes and have these facilities in place,” Kajla says. “Obviously, [Mayor Doug McCallum] is not being clear where he’s getting all this money from. He’s just taking away from the community.”

Mike Bola, with the Cloverdale Community Association, echoes Kajla’s sentiments and says the junior hockey community banded together to oppose this budget.

“As Councillor Hundial acknowledged today that he received hundreds and hundreds of emails, if you don’t read those and if you’re not going to respond to them, then that means you really don’t care about what’s going to happen to Surrey for the next four years, it’s all about yourself,” he tells NEWS 1130.

Tonight’s outcome also means the hiring of more Surrey RCMP officers is also on hold for now. A formal approval of the new budget will come on Wednesday morning.

Seniors will receive a big discount at rec centres

In a separate vote, council approved a 75-per-cent discount for seniors’ recreation services, but Coun. Linda Annis also asks for staff to look at offering this to kids under the age of 18. She says with capital projects now on hold, it’s important to keep kids “safe and engaged.”

— with files from Taran Parmar