SURREY – Surrey mayor Dianne Watts and her team are planning large tax hikes for Surrey that could average almost $100 for 2013 and if you have a secondary suite – you could be paying massive $250.
Surrey Council won’t be considering the increases until December, but city staff and Coun. Tom Gill, who chairs the city’s finance committee, are already hammering out the details, reported the Surrey Leader newspaper.
Surrey is planning its usual 2.9 per cent increase ($40.20 on the average home worth $615,000), another one per cent road levy ($13.86), along with a $22 increase in the drainage fee, a $5.90 bump in water charges, and a $16.40 jump in sewer fees.
If the home has a secondary suite, however, the homeowner will be paying another $148 annually, bringing the secondary suite service fee to $395, an increase of 37.5 per cent.
That will bring the total tax bill for the average Surrey home to $2,620, or $2,768 for homes with a suite.
In addition to that, homes with secondary suites that are not on water meters will be paying $844 for utilities such as sewer ($439), water ($264) and garbage pickup ($141).
Gill told the Leader newspaper city hall has heard loud and clear from residents that they want owners of homes with suites to pay their fair share.
“In terms of the significant secondary suite fee increase, the objective is to fairly and equitably support amenity infrastructure requirements utilized by all of our residents (pools, recreational centres, turf fields – all in the Build Surrey Program) plus support standard infrastructure such as road improvements,” Gill said Wednesday.
The city has identified 23,500 suites so far, and expects to find another 1,000 this year.
Gill expects that secondary suite service fee will generate almost $10 million annually.
Some of the capital projects the city will be paying for next year include infrastructure improvements at Newton Athletic Park ($2.9 million), a covered youth park in Cloverdale ($1.5 million), advanced design work for a multipurpose space in Fleetwood ($1.3 million of the $15.5 total paid over future years), design of an artificial turf field ($500,000 of the $2 million total).
The budget will be considered by council on Dec. 10.
