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Surrey braced itself for RCMP hikes

City was told to make a room for a 1.5 per cent increase, however the costs came in slightly higher.
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Mayor Dianne Watts didn't like the way the federal government left cities out of loop on RCMP increases.

Surrey had warning about an increase in police costs, but Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts wasn't happy with the way the message was delivered.

The Surrey RCMP advised the city it should make room for a provisional increase of 1.5 per cent.

When Surrey passed it's budget last year, that's the amount that it set aside.

Surrey staff say the costs recently announced by the federal government are more like 1.75 per cent, leaving the city less than $500,000 short.

That shortfall, staff say, can be made up by efficiencies within the Surrey RCMP, and should have no impact on taxpayers or other services.

Watts is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.

She told The Leader earlier this week that she was extremely upset with how the federal government handled the wage increases and how cities were shut out of the process.

"This is not in the spirit of us coming together and being open and transparent," Watts said Monday. "The province didn't even know about it."

@diakiw