Incoming mayors urge Metro Vancouver board to delay budget meeting

The mayors-elect of Vancouver, Surrey and New Westminster are urging the Metro Vancouver board to postpone an upcoming budget meeting. They say outgoing mayors and councillors should not make the decision after the municipal election results. New Westminster mayor-elect Daniel Fontaine, a vocal critic of Metro Vancouver, said he is concerned about the meeting going ahead. He said outgoing officials should spend Friday clearing their desks and moving on, and called it wrong to hold the meeting between the civic election and the swearing-in of every new mayor and council.

Board members are scheduled to review the 2027 budget and five-year financial plan on Friday. In a statement to CTV News, Surrey mayor-elect Doug McCallum said that on Oct. 17, voters in 13 of the region’s 21 municipalities chose a new mayor. Thirteen days later, he said, the directors those voters replaced plan to sit down and pass next year’s budget. “That is not how you treat voters,” he said. McCallum would like the decision moved to the board’s next meeting on Nov. 27. He said nothing on Friday’s agenda could not wait four weeks.

Vancouver mayor-elect Pete Fry agreed with McCallum and Fontaine, saying it probably made sense to delay the meeting because the city has a brand-new council with new priorities.

The Metro Vancouver board typically approves its budget on the last Friday of October, giving municipalities time to develop their own budgets. If approved, the budget would mean the average Metro Vancouver household pays $914 next year for regional services and utilities, an increase of $17 from the previous year.