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Here’s what social media is saying about Surrey’s budget

Council passed the budget in a 5-4 vote Monday night
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Surrey Fire Fighters Association president Mark McRae speaks to the finance committee during the public hearing on the draft budget Monday (Dec. 2). (Photo: Amy Reid)

Surrey council gave the green light vote to a controversial budget in a 5-4 vote Monday night (Dec. 2), and now people are reacting to it on the Now-Leader’s social media.

The vote came after a nearly two-hour public hearing earlier in the day that saw dozens of people voice fierce opposition to the budget and the policing transition.

More than 50 people signed up to speak during the public hearing.

The five-year financial plan allocates $129.6 million to Surrey’s proposed municipal police force over five years, and its approval means there will be no new firefighters or police officers hired in 2020.

From longtime residents to business leaders to the head of the Surrey Fire Fighters Association and even a widow whose husband was murdered in 2018, virtually all who spoke urged council to reconsider the budget.

- with files from Amy Reid

READ ALSO: ‘A disaster’: Surrey council OKs budget despite deemed ‘risk’ to public safety

READ ALSO: Surrey’s top cop slams city’s budget

READ ALSO: Safe Surrey councillors break silence after biting tongue at heated budget meetings

Here’s what people are saying on social media:



Lauren Collins

About the Author: Lauren Collins

I'm a provincial reporter for Black Press Media's national team, after my journalism career took me across B.C. since I was 19 years old.
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