The Surrey Police Board and Surrey Police Union are taking Mayor Brenda Locke to task for 鈥渆rroneously鈥� claiming the Surrey Police Service is running a deficit budget over $26 million but Locke is standing by that claim.

鈥淭hey are running a deficit budget, $26 million-plus deficit budget,鈥� she told the Now-Leader on Jan. 17. 鈥淭hose aren鈥檛 my numbers, those are the numbers we get from our accounting department at city hall. They have been told about it, they know about it, the SPS know about it. I told them in August, 鈥渟top spending, stop hiring. They didn鈥檛. So then we told them again in December, no more hires. And they went ahead and hired anyway.鈥�

The City of Surrey issued a statement from Locke on Jan. 16 that states council in early 2023 approved the SPS budget at $48.7 million. 鈥淎t the end of 2023, SPS had spent $75.4M, resulting in a massive budget overrun of $26.7M. Put another way, the SPS鈥檚 out of control spending in 2023 was 55 per cent higher than what they were approved to spend,鈥� Locke said.

鈥淩ather than working within the budget that was approved by the City, SPS made expensive hires that it could not afford, including up to 100 people on payroll that are not deployed on the frontline. In other words, Surrey taxpayers are paying for SPS officers that are not deployed to keep Surrey safe. The SPS has continued its unauthorized hiring in 2024.鈥�

The SPB then issued its own press release, with a statement from the board鈥檚 provincially-appointed administrator Mike Serr that 鈥渃larifies facts on Surrey Police Service costs.鈥�

The SPB press release says that with Locke as chairwoman of the board it submitted a 2023 budget of $157.6 million to the city and during 2023, 鈥渙n the basis of plans to eliminate the SPS and return to the RCMP, the city reduced this budget to $48.8 million for 2023 鈥� a cut of 70 per cent.

鈥淲ith the decision by Minister Farnworth in July 2023, and the subsequent amendments to the Police Act that require the transition to be completed, Surrey Police Service officials worked with city officials to arrive at a budget of $75 million to carry SPS through to the end of 2023,鈥� Serr is quoted in the press release. 鈥淐ontinuing her fight to ignore the provincial decision and requirements of the new Police Act, the mayor refused to provide formal approval of the agreed to budget and is now misrepresenting this as 鈥榦verspending鈥� in relation to her 70 per cent cut. Regardless of this cut, SPS will close the year under the $75 million budget.鈥�

鈥淭he transition is legally bound to continue,鈥� he added. 鈥淭his means that the SPS budget will continue to increase, as the RCMP detachment鈥檚 budget needs will decrease. It is inappropriate to suggest that the continued hires and associated budget is a burden on taxpayers, just as it is unfair to refuse to pay these officers.鈥�

Rick Stewart, president of the Surrey Police Union, also released a statement on Jan. 16 鈥渇ollowing budget misinformation released by Mayor Brenda Locke earlier today.鈥�

鈥淭he Surrey Police Union (SPU) is expressing significant concern over the dissemination of inaccurate information by Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke that is being used to sow confusion among residents and undermine the credibility of Surrey Police Service (SPS), the Surrey Police Board, and our dedicated members,鈥� Stewart charged.

Stewart said the 2023 policing budget for Surrey was 鈥渋nitially formulated under the assumption鈥� the Surrey RCMP would remain the city鈥檚 police of jurisdiction, with the SPS discontinuing its operations by July 2023. 鈥淐onsequently, SPS operated with an incomplete budget, covering approximately half of the fiscal year. Following Minister Farnworth鈥檚 decision to proceed with the policing transition, the City of Surrey refused to adjust the budget to reflect staffing and transition planning.鈥�

鈥淚t is patently unfair of Mayor Locke to grossly underfund SPS and then criticize for running a deficit when the total budgeted amount for policing is in surplus,鈥� Stewart charged.

Coun. Linda Annis also weighed in with a press release issued Jan. 17 in which she charges that Locke, by not moving ahead with the revised SPS budget, 鈥渃reated an accounting issue on paper.鈥�

鈥淏ecause council did not move ahead with the revised SPS budget, the third quarter showed the RCMP had a positive variance of some $27 million, while the SPS had a negative variance of $23.4 million. Meanwhile, the total police budget showed a third quarter positive overall variance of nearly $4 million. The fact is that as the budget for the SPS grows, the budget for the RCMP has to be reduced.鈥�