If there’s anything a businessperson hates more than taxes, it’s red tape.
Surrey already boasts one of the lowest business and industrial tax rates in the region. And now it is working on becoming one of the least bureaucratic cities in the region.
In January, as part of the city’s two-phase economic investment action plan, and at the urging of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), Surrey Mayor Diane Watts struck the red-tape reduction advisory committee and appointed Coun. Linda Hepner to head it up.
“We needed to see some leadership at the municipal level,” said Laura Jones, CFIB’s vice-president, Western Canada, who was the one who convinced Watts to strike the committee.
“We heard a lot about processes,” said Hepner, who chaired the 16-member committee. “There is a whole lot of cost to business that is unintended.”
The CFIB calculates the cost of meeting government regulations in B.C. is worth $4.8 billion. It is particularly onerous for small businesses, because while they have to meet many of the same requirements as big businesses, they don’t have their economies of scale.
“Red tape costs time and it costs money,” said Peter Simpson, president of the Greater Vancouver Homebuilders Association and committee member. “So we’re pleased that Surrey is looking at ways to either mitigate or eliminate it.”
The committee examined 300 city policies and determined 25% were either unnecessary or counter-productive. The city has been working to either scrap or streamline those policies, Hepner said.
“Policies that we develop today may have little or no relevance a decade from now, and there has to be a sunset clause in those policies,” she said.
One of the biggest complaints the committee heard was about city hall processes. For example, the city requires inspections at certain stages of a development. But homebuilders complained that when they booked an inspector, he or she didn’t always show up on time, which meant they would often have to pay tradesmen to stand around waiting to have an inspection.
In response to those complaints, Surrey is now implementing a new electronic notification system that will let builders know, by email or SMS, what the status of the inspection is, and if any delays are expected. Inspectors will also have equipment that will allow them to print inspection documents on the spot.
Another source of frustration for anyone trying to do business with municipal bureaucrats is simply getting through to the right person in a timely fashion and getting consistent, accurate information. Too often, they end up passed onto different departments, getting conflicting information or no answer at all.
“People wanted clear direction, immediately,” Hepner said. “So we’ve got a management system that identifies an immediate contact person for them, that they’re not getting that runaround.”
Now, when a businessperson contacts city hall with a development plan, a project manager is appointed and he or she works with a team of city officials from relevant departments to make sure the process is streamlined and co-ordinated.
The city is also working on streamlining its online processes. Hepner said her committee heard from businesses that they want to be able to conduct business online – including making payments –without having to come down to city hall at each stage of a development process.
Hepner’s committee will be meeting in September and will be issuing a final report informing the city’s business community of the steps it has already taken and plan to take in the future.
To make sure the city’s red-tape reduction strategies are working, Hepner said the committee is recommending measurement protocols to ensure the actions it is recommending are working and continuing to be followed.
That’s one policy Jones said she wouldn’t mind seeing city hall hold on to.
“Not all rules are bad rules,” she said.