Surrey taxpayers spent more than $30,000 in police overtime costs and tickets for city staff at this year’s Surrey Regional Economic Summit.
Surrey’s sixth-annual summit – held on Feb. 18 –included former prime ministers Julia Gillard (Australia), George Papandreou (Greece) and Ehud Barak (Israel).
Surrey has long said the cost of speakers at the yearly event is completely covered through ticket sales and sponsorships.
The city won’t disclose the cost of the speakers, nor the amount received by way of sponsorships or ticket sales, citing that those things are within the control of the Pace Group, which organizes the event.
However, taxpayers did cover the costs of police overtime for this year’s event, a figure that reached $24,300. There was an additional $5,600 in officer amenities, such as food, portable toilets, etc.
The city also paid for six tickets for staff at $499 apiece, for a total of $2,994.
The Pace Group gave the city 20 complimentary tickets.
It brings the city’s investment in the event to $32,894.
Surrey Coun. Linda Hepner, co-chair of the summit, said whatever the city is spending on the event, it’s proving well worth it.
“The heart of the matter is where the city is going as far as vision and leadership,” Hepner said. “I think for the City of Surrey, that event has been an absolute boon, to both our reputation and the climate.“
Hepner said the Mounties’ presence was “within the RCMP operational budget.“
In fact, the Mounties exceeded their overtime budget by $2.7 million during the force’s fiscal year, April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014.
The overtime cost for the summit is coming out of Surrey taxpayers’ pockets.
Surrey RCMP Sgt. Dale Carr said Thursday the federal government requires cities to adequately protect international dignitaries.
That means Surrey taxpayers didn’t have to pay policing costs for Richard Bransen when he came in 2012, or Steve Forbes in 2010.
But four other years, overtime policing costs were borne by taxpayers.
