Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum has announced a new task force and standing committee.
The Mayor’s Task Force on New and Innovative Revenue Generation is aimed at looking “at cities around the world to see how they generate revenue… so that all of the revenue sources don’t completely rely on the taxpayer all the time,” McCallum said at the Jan. 13 council meeting.
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He said there are some examples in Europe “that are being worked on right now.” He didn’t specify what those examples are.
“This task force will literally look around the world to find innovative and new ways to finance our city.”
The Now-Leader has reached out to the city to find out more about the examples.
McCallum appointed himself as chair for the task force, along with councillors Allison Patton and Laurie Guerra as committee members. It’s for a one-year term.
During the meeting, McCallum also announced a “new” standing committee, the Investment and Innovation Standing Committee. He appointed himself as chair, along with councillors Patton and Mandeep Nagra as committee members.
McCallum said the committee is “to build Surrey’s economy and optimize the city’s potential in terms of generating high-value, local jobs, building the local innovative ecosystem, optimizing strategic investments and employment in building Surrey’s City Centre.”
The Investment and Innovation Standing Committee, however, isn’t entirely new.
In February 2018, former mayor Linda Hepner replaced it with the now-defunct Mayor’s Economic Advisory Committee. MEAC was meant to “provide council with information and guidance on issues related to investment and innovation opportunities and challenges” in the city.
READ ALSO: Surrey mayor strikes new economic committee, Feb. 8, 2018
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