Metro Vancouver Regional District director Lisa Muri was outspoken against media Thursday during a special board meeting to discuss the government’s scope of services and means to pare down its 2026 budget.
The meeting was called by board chair Mike Hurley to address public concerns about the government’s expenses as it grapples with a roughly $3-billion cost overrun at the North Shore Wastewater Treatment plant.
The cost overrun resulted in a 25.3-per-cent increase to Metro Vancouver taxes and utility fees on the average household last year.
Muri, a councillor with the District of North Vancouver, suggested the government is doing a good job and it is media that have the matter wrong.
“We need to stand up and push back. We do exceptional work in this region,” said Muri, adding “right now we have the news explaining that and I don’t think they do a very good job; I think they’re biased.”
Global News this week outlined the many extra payments politicians receive for sitting on the board, on top of their respective municipal council roles, prompting Premier David Eby to express concern about its governance.
The three-hour meeting ultimately led to no final decisions but rather direction to staff to examine and report back on service and scope reductions in some areas, such as regional climate policy co-ordination.
“The talk is that Metro is out of control. This [meeting] is to fish out if we are into too many things,” said Hurley, Burnaby’s mayor.
Another service to be examined is Invest Vancouver, a $4.8-million entity comprising of economists and analysts with a stated goal of improving investment conditions in the region.
Delta Coun. Dylan Kruger took to X.com after the meeting, for which he and other directors were paid $547 to attend, to call Invest Vancouver “a fake business association run by Metro Vancouver that duplicates services already provided by private organizations.”
Also on the chopping block are cultural grants operated by the government, which claims to primarily be a utility provider (water, sewers and waste).
Metro Vancouver chief administrative officer Jerry Dobrovolny presented the board with the government’s $152-million service budget, prompting directors to debate what could be cut.
Dobrovolny noted Metro Vancouver has already deferred $650 million of projects in order to keep projected annual tax increases to five per cent over the next four years (still more than twice the rate of the Bank of Canada’s inflation projections).
Dobrovolny referred to the 25.3 per cent tax hike as a “big adjustment.”
One item on the proverbial chopping block is a $550,000 communications booth at the Pacific National Exhibition this summer.
Muri said the booth is valuable for communicating Metro Vancouver services.
Dobrovolny said for every $1 million shaved off the service budget a dollar is taken off the average household tax bill ($875), prompting some directors to question the utility of the meeting.
“We’re wasting time on little things. It is infrastructure costs that are driving up the budget,” said director Sav Dhaliwal, a Burnaby councillor.
And yet another Metro Vancouver quagmire was raised by director Brenda Locke, Surrey’s mayor.
“I continue to be very concerned about scope creep,” said Locke adding Surrey taxpayers don’t feel they are being treated equally.
“We’re told to put on our regional hat but it’s different when we’re seeing an inequitable situation.
“I really would love to see a budget for only core responsibilities,” said Locke.
