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Surrey city hall may cost $150M, but taxpayers off the hook, city says

Jacob Zinn
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CITY CENTRE — The new Surrey City Hall may actually cost nearly $150 million after it’s all paid off – but that doesn’t mean the city is over budget.

To date, the city has stated that the new hall would cost $97 million, but residents have questioned how much the hall will cost after financing. The interest generated over a quarter-century is expected to be around $48 million, but Vivienne Wilke, general manager of finance and technology with the city, explained that taxpayers won’t pay a dime on that.

She said the tax revenues generated from the $3 billion of private-sector investment in the area since the hall was first announced – as touted by Mayor Dianne Watts at Tuesday’s media tour – will go toward the interest accrued on the new hall.

“It will more than pay for that, actually,” said Wilke.

The budget was split into two mortgages, with one for $52 million at 4.2 per cent over 25 years and other at $45 million at 2.9 per cent over the same period, totalling an estimated $48 million of interest.

But with the interest taken care of, Wilke said the old city hall, if leased in its entirety, will bring in $2 million over 25 years to pay for the $37 million in the budget that it was anticipated to cover. The city has reached an agreement with the province to lease roughly one third of the old hall, and given its proximity to Surrey Provincial Court and the pretrial centre, the city expects the B.C. government will eventually lease the entire building.

Back at the new hall, taxpayers will pay for $50 million while the rest will come from a $10-million contingency fund for unforeseen expenses, which has been spent.

Additional components of the new hall have cost extra, but the city is not responsible for all of those expenses. While Wilke confirmed the city paid $2.5 million to make the council chambers work as a performing arts theatre, the costs of the underground parkade ($32 million) and outdoor plaza ($9 million) will be paid for through parking fees and funds from the Surrey City Development Corp., respectively.

“(The outdoor plaza) is part of the Build Surrey program,” she said. “There was no borrowing attached to that at all.”