Another year, another set of tax increases in Surrey, B.C. It’s starting to really add up for home owners. From the Surrey Now:

• They want to hike their cultural flat tax levy – brought in last year despite never being mentioned in the 2014 election – by as much as 15%.
• They want to hike property taxes at least 2.9%.
• They want a new cop tax to cover their election promise of hiring 100 new officers.
• They want to continue their temporary 1% road levy.
• And they want to hike utility fees.

Here’s what I said:

Jordan Bateman of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation said people in Surrey must wonder where all the extra tax revenue from the city’s unprecedented growth is going.

“Part of the reason we need more cops in Surrey is because we have more people moving there,” Bateman said. “You would think they would be paying into that system to contribute. Where is all that money going?”

He also slammed Gill’s mention of an increase to the recently introduced cultural and recreation levy.

“There was no mention of that last year,” said Bateman, “and when people look around at city-owned facilities, the most extravagant one with the most money sunk into it is city hall. That’s hardly beneficial on the recreation side.”

He also criticized Surrey’s recent hiring of a public safety director, who will have an annual salary of $170,000, calling the position, “just another layer of bureaucracy.”

Bateman asked, “Why do we have a police chief and a bylaw manager, now we add another layer? This is the kind of thing that drives people crazy. Put boots on the street. Lots of people know what needs to be done in Surrey. It’s just a matter of doing it. More senior staff should be the last thing Surrey is pursuing.”

All told, for 2015, the average tax bill for a single-family household, assessed at $648,000, jumped from $1,593 to $1,755 totalling a $162 hike.