Surrey ratepayers are looking at a 2.8 per cent general property tax increase plus another one per cent for the road levy.
"It'll be among the lowest in the region, I think it's probably one of the lowest Surrey's ever seen, 2.8 per cent," Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke told the Now-Leader on Monday morning, "plus one per cent for the roads. We have to continue with our road program, building and maintenance."
"We're very happy; the staff worked really hard, we all did to keep it low given the state of uncertainty we're in right now. So we wanted to keep these property taxes just as close as we can, at the same time we're building a city so we have to keep the amenities flowing."
Locke said the public will be able to comment on this until April 11 before it goes to the finance committee for a initial reading on April 14. She said it's expected to be adopted on April 28.
Locke said the proposed property tax increase will amount to about $77 for an average single-family dwelling and will facilitate the hiring of 20 more firefighters, 10 bylaws enforcement officers and provide funding to hire an additional 25 police officers. "That's something that we felt was important and we needed to catch up. It also includes the Newton Community Centre, is included in there."
"Pretty happy with this," Locke said.
The roads levy increase equates to roughly $27 for the average single-family dwelling.
The $310.6 million Newton Community Centre, to include a 50-metre swimming pool and library three times the size of the existing Newton branch, will be roughly 190,000 square feet (17,650 square metres). It's in the preliminary planning stage and a "design-build" team will be selected in the second quarter of this year.
A corporate report containing the 2025 Five-Year (2025-2029) Financial Plan – General Operating will come before council on April 14. Meantime, the 2025 Five-Year (2025-2029 Financial Plan – Capital Program can also be found on the City of Surrey's website.
In February, council approved utility rate "adjustments" related to water, sewer, drainage, solid waste, parking and district energy self-funded (ie. user pay) utilities that contained a "significant cost escalation" related to the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant (NSWWTP) that's estimated to cost $2.86 billion more than it was supposed to be.
This, Surrey city manager Rob Constanzo and finance manager Kam Grewal told council at the time, is "resulting in increased sewer levy amounts for a period of 30 years for North Shore residents and 15 years for residents of all other municipalities in the region, including Surrey."
In 2025, the Metro Vancouver (MV) sewer levy for Surrey increased by 37.6 per cent compared to 2024 with 76 per cent of this levy hike being imposed to fund the NSWWTP and "the remaining 24 per cent of this levy increase is the standard MV sewer levy increase for Surrey," Constanzo and Grewal indicated.
Also, Metro Vancouver sewer rates are projected to rise by an average 7.1 per cent per year for each of the remaining four years of the Five-Year Plan. The annual impact on sewer customers as proposed is $174.14 for metered single family accounts, $967.41 on metered commercial and $386.96 on non-meter residential.
Members of the public had an opportunity to voice any concerns at the finance committee meeting, following Grewal's presentation. But nobody showed up.
Last year, council ratified a 2024 budget that included a six per cent property tax hike, a one per cent increase in the roads and tax levy, and a secondary suite fee increase on top of increased utility rate fees.
The proposed General Capital Program allocates $701 million over the next five years.
Beside the Newton Community Centre, this also includes a new artificial turf field and parking lot for Cloverdale Athletic Park ($12.3 million), the Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre expansion ($65.5 million), first phase and master plan for Unwin Community Park ($18.7 million), Nicomekl Riverfront Park ($26 million) and design of the first phase of the Centre Block office development downtown ($4 million).
It also includes a pier for scattering ashes ($3.8 million), ball diamond improvements at Sunnyside Park ($3.7 million), constructing a relocated Fire Hall #6 ($30 million), North Surrey Track resurfacing ($3.15 million), Surrey Archives and 1912 Hall renovation ($5 million), and a third filed hockey turf field and changeroom for Tamanawis Park.
Also contained in the capital program is cash earmarked for Bear Creek lights and events upgrades ($2.5 million), disc golf for Port Mann Park ($2.3 million), planning and preliminary design for a 10,000-seat sports and entertainment arena in the city centre ($4 million), truck bay expansions for Fire Halls 11 and 15 ($4 million), design and development of Woodward Hill Neighbourhood Park in South Newton ($2.8 million), an artificial turf field and replacement at Newton Athletic Park ($1.8 million) and replacing the water park at Bear Creek Park ($1.6 million).
There's more.
A total $132.8 million for the Cloverdale Sport & Ice Complex, to be completed in early 2027, large covered picnic shelters at various parks ($2 million), sports court and pathway improvements at Robertson Drive Park, design and development of Abbey Ridge Neighbourhood Park, new park washrooms ($3.8 million), a covered multi-sport lacrosse box at South Surrey Athletic Park ($4.2 million), design and development of South Newton Park ($2.5 million), park improvements ($2.5 million), design and phase-one development of Grandview Heights Community Park ($3.1 million), sports facility site development ($1 million), replacing the roof at Surrey Sport & Leisure Complex ($7.5 million), improvements to North Surrey Community Park ($5.3 million), development of youth-focussed recreation facilities at Newton Youth Park ($3.9 million), an Interactive Art Museum downtown ($100 million), the design and construction of a multi-sport facility at Cloverdale Athletic Park ($2.1 million), and $750,000 for upgrades to the Billy Hadden House.
