The City of Surrey wants the province’s main political parties to explain how they would address the growing financial pressure facing local governments.

Municipalities have limited revenue sources available to them but are taking on more responsibility around non-traditional areas such as health care, immigration, and homelessness, the city said in a news release today (April 9).

The city said local governments across the province face these new responsibilities as well as increasing costs for core services such as fire and police all while continuing to rely on property taxes as their main revenue source.

“Surrey and other B.C. local governments are continually having responsibilities downloaded onto them from the other orders of government with no new revenues,” Mayor Dianne Watts said in the release.

“Surrey is a fast growing city and it needs to be equipped with the necessary tools and resources to address the challenges that accompany that growth,” Watts said.

Surrey city council has decided to forward a municipal staff report on the matter to the political parties running in the May 14 provincial election and request a response. The city did not outline any specific recommendations on how to address the financial pressures in its news release.