Surrey wants a divorce.

City council on Monday directed city staff to initiate steps for Surrey to withdraw from the Metro 2050 Regional Growth Strategy.

Adopted on Feb. 24, 2023, the strategy is billed as a "shared vision" on how housing, population and job growth in this region is to be managed for the next 30 years.

Councillor Pardeep Kooner. who presented the motion, said when she was first elected she believed Metro Vancouver would work with Surrey but has since realized its board "isn't functional to actually make decisions that align with the City of Surrey's values, and this council's values."

Under "other business" at the end of Surrey council's Feb. 24 meeting she presented a motion seeking a declaration that the city no longer wishes to support Metro Vancouver's strategies and programs, "which imposes on Surrey residents unfair costs for programs which do not benefit Surrey in proportion to these costs. The strategy, she argues, doesn't promote human settlement that is "socially, economically and environmentally healthy or make efficient use of public facilities and services, land and other resources in all areas to which it currently applies."

Councillor Doug Elford asked Kooner if she wants staff to investigate getting out, or to simply get out. 

"It's to initiate the steps for the City of Surrey to withdraw from the Metro 2050 Regional Growth Strategy," she confirmed. "So staff would report back on what the process would be."

Councillor Rob Stutt said Metro Vancouver Regional District has become "large and bloated" with costs escalating not only on capital projects such as the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant but also because of "scope creep, operations, governance and an overgrown bureaucracy."

"Changes must be made to ensure there is equity amongst all of the region's taxpayers. It is very clear that some cities received Metro Vancouver Regional District Resources that are disproportionate to other cities and their tax base," Stutt said.

Surrey council members and conceded to the 2025 Metro Vancouver (MV) sewer levy for Surrey increasing by 37.6 per cent compared to 2024 with 76 per cent of this levy hike being imposed to fund the treatment plant, that's estimated to cost $2.86 billion more than it was supposed to with the remaining 24 per cent of the levy increase being the "standard MV sewer levy increase for Surrey."

This, according to a corporate report from Surrey city manager Rob Constanzo and finance manager Kam Grewal, is "resulting in increased sewer levy amounts for a period of 30 years for North Shore residents and 15 years for residents of all other municipalities in the region, including Surrey."

Also, Metro Vancouver sewer rates are projected to rise by an average 7.1 per cent per year for each of the remaining four years of the Five-Year Plan. The annual impact on sewer customers as proposed is $174.14 for metered single family accounts, $967.41 on metered commercial and $386.96 on non-meter residential.

Meanwhile, Councillor Gordon Hepner offered up a "hear, hear" to Kooner's motion, arguing that Metro Vancouver is "taking on endeavours that are not at the core to its authority.

'Sewer, water, and some of the authority that it has taken on is a duplication of the services that the city already does. I think it's probably time that we look at areas that will divide Metro Vancouver into smaller, more manageable and responsive sections."

Councillor Linda Annis said she's been calling for a "big" review of Metro Vancouver "for some time now," adding "I think it's really blown out of control."

Mayor Brenda Locke said the City of Surrey has "tried very hard" to work with Metro Vancouver but there is a "very clear difference in the opinion of our city and some of the other cities. Opinions of scope, of cost, of governance, all of those things of the regional services provided by and paid for by taxpayers."

She said she intends to coordinate a "South Fraser Summit" involving mayors, councillors and senior management "of various cities" to determine "the next steps in ensuring regional services and corresponding costs to our taxpayers so that they are fairly allocated."

By working collaboratively, she said, she hopes "we can bring greater balance, transparency and an equitable service delivery" by the Metro Vancouver Regional District "to all of our communities and in particular those of us in the South Fraser."

Kooner said "it's only come to this" because she's still waiting on Metro Vancouver to answer questions that she posed last September. "I don't think that they were difficult questions; I definitely don't think it would take longer than six months to answer these questions. And the fact that the city of Surrey, the second largest soon to be largest city, can't get basic information on how things are calculated to ensure equity for our residents is something that, it's just not acceptable and I think it's high time we make a claim, and make a statement, that we won't be accepting this kind of behaviour from them."

On Monday, former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum issued a "scathing rebuke of Metro Vancouver鈥檚 unchecked spending and blatant disregard for accountability. 鈥淭he waste is staggering, the abuse is unforgivable, and the leadership is AWOL,鈥� he stated. 鈥淭axpayers are being fleeced while families struggle to survive an affordability crisis. This stops now.鈥�

Also, the Surrey Board of Trade recently exhorted local businesses to "weigh in on Metro Vancouver's budget amid rising costs."