Metro Vancouver rejects Surrey mayor-elect’s call to cancel budget vote Friday

Metro Vancouver’s next board meeting should be cancelled, says Surrey’s mayor-elect Doug McCallum, given 13 of the invited mayors were not re-elected in this month’s municipal vote across B.C.

On Friday, the board will meet to review a 1,190-page agenda and approve Metro Vancouver’s 2027 budget and five-year financial plan.

The board is comprised of mayors and councillors from 21 municipalities, each with a weighted vote depending on the size of their municipality.

McCallum said it was unusual for so many incumbent mayors to have been ousted in the recent municipal elections and that the monthly meeting this Friday should be cancelled until next month, when all the new mayors are sworn in.

“On Oct. 17, voters in 13 of the region’s 21 municipalities chose a new mayor, including Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, Delta and both Langleys,” McCallum said.

“On Friday, Oct. 30, the outgoing board is scheduled to consider agenda packages that run to 1,190 pages across Metro Vancouver’s four boards, and to approve the 2027 budget and five-year financial plan. The document that sets what every household in the region pays for regional water, sewer, garbage and parks, already nearly $900 a year for the average home.”

McCallum said the board has until next March to adopt its financial plan, so waiting until the next regular meeting on Nov. 27 should be no problem.

“I am calling on the board chair (Mike Hurley) and the directors to cancel Friday’s meeting. If something truly cannot wait four weeks, deal with that one item and leave everything else for the board the voters chose.”

On Monday, a Metro Vancouver spokesperson confirmed the 2027 budget would be considered and voted on this Friday.

“The budget is considered and approved in October to provide enough time for member jurisdictions to prepare their own financial plans for the coming year, and to meet legislative requirements for when budgets should be established,” the spokesperson said.

She said Metro Vancouver board meetings are held on the last Friday of every month regardless of the election cycle.

dcarrigg@postmedia.com