1. Unwanted Transition
Surrey residents do not support this unwanted plan. Recent polling from Pollara Strategic Insights following the province's police transition announcement (news release available here) shows that:
- Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) Surrey residents support retaining the RCMP more than double the number of those that think the City should proceed with the Surrey Police Service (28%).
- Majority support for the RCMP is found across the city, including 62% of South Asian residents.
- A commanding 69% of BC NDP voters support Surrey retaining the RCMP.
Multiple earlier waves of polling also confirmed strong support for the Surrey RCMP, including:
- 75% of residents support keeping the RCMP in Surrey with improvements such as increased policing resources.
- 68% South Asian
- 76% Male
- 74% Female
- 92% want to keep property taxes affordable.
- 89% of Surrey residents have a favourable impression of RCMP Members.
2. Future Costs Unknown
- Transition costs skyrocketed from $19 million to over $103 million. The real costs of the police transition remain unknown.
- If the Surrey Police Service transition were to continue, it would take upwards of three years to complete and cost residents an additional $235 million, and $30 million more annually afterward.
- The City of Surrey benefits through millions in federal contributions and provincial tax exemptions by having the Surrey RCMP as their police service. Each year these savings average $22 million, that will be lost by having a new police service. Over five years, that is $110 million in lost revenues for the City that will need to be made up by the taxpayer.
3. Big Tax Increases
Your taxes have been raised significantly to fund the new police service.
- Since 2020, property taxes have increased on average 11% to pay for the overages of the police transition. In 2023, homeowners will see a 12.5% property tax, of which 7% will go directly toward paying down the exorbitant cost overruns of the SPS.
- In 2021, the Capital Parcel Levy was increased from $100 to $300 per homeowner to pay for the police transition. This fund has collected millions of from taxpayers from $17 million in 2020 to a forecasted $52.2 million in 2025.
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