THE Surrey Board of Trade on Friday noted that the City of Vancouver had appointed an independent task force to review the city’s finances to prevent another significant property tax increase, and called on the City of Surrey to involve the business community with a similar structure to create an independent task force to review and provide input into the City of Surrey’s finances to prevent another significant business and property tax increase.

Anita Huberman, President and CEO, Surrey Board of Trade, said: “Previously, the Surrey Board of Trade has indicated that the City of Surrey should provide a draft budget before it is made public to stakeholders, and initiate a similar task force. The Surrey Board of Trade is very concerned about ongoing, uncertain property tax increases for businesses. It is businesses that bear the greatest burden of taxation, and a task force should be created that includes the business community.”

The Surrey Board of Trade called on the City of Surrey to create a task force made up of a diverse industry base of businesses, stakeholders, accountants and financial analysts, similar to the structure of the City of Vancouver’s task force.

Any recommendations and reviews made by this task force should be open and transparent. The minutes, agenda, and review process should not be confidential to ensure public confidence and transparency, said Huberman.