Synchro teams shine in Surrey page 27
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Thursday February 20, 2014
Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
Total cost of new city hall is nearly $150 million
Accused in Maple Batalia’s murder to stand trial
Surrey borrowed $97M for building, which will incur $2 million in interest annually
SFU Surrey student was gunned down in 2011
by Kevin Diakiw
SURREY’S NEW city hall is going to cost taxpayers almost $150 million by the time the city has finished paying for it in 2037. The new 180,000-sq.-ft.. building at 13450 104 Ave., complete with marble walls and stone-tile floors, opened this week. Civic officials have said the price tag for the new space is $97 million. That figure also included a $10-million contingency fund, but The Leader has learned that money has been spent. In addition, Surrey paid an additional $2.5 million to turn council chambers into a dual-purpose performing arts space by adding catwalks. That brings the total construction cost to $99.5 million. Surrey borrowed $97 million from the Municipal Financing Authority, a lending agency for cities. Two mortgages were taken over 25-year terms. The first $52 million is financed at 4.9 per cent, while the remaining $45 million is being financed at 2.9 per cent. That makes the annual interest payments on those loans $1.936 million. Over the 25-year term of the mortgages, Surrey will have paid $48.4 million in interest, bringing the total cost of Surrey’s new city hall to $147.9 million. Construction costs for an outdoor civic plaza ($9 million) and a parking facility ($32 million) are being shared by the City Centre Library and the 3 Civic Plaza hotel, and are not included in the $150 million price tag.
by Sheila Reynolds THE EX-BOYFRIEND of slain
Over 25 years, Surrey will have paid $48.4 million in interest on loans for its new city hall.
See WATTS / Page 3
BOAZ JOSEPH / THE LEADER
African ambassadors
Members of the Watoto Children’s Choir sang at Parkland Fellowship Baptist Church on Feb. 16. The concert at the Surrey church was part of the choir’s ongoing tour, titled Beautiful Africa: A New Generation. Established in 1994, the choir travels internationally as ambassadors for children in Africa that have been orphaned by war, poverty and disease. For more information, visit watoto.com
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Surrey student Maple Batalia has been ordered to stand trial for first-degree murder in connection with the teen’s shooting in 2011. The trial for Gurjinder (Gary) Dhaliwal and co-accused Gursimar Sing Bedi was ordered after a preliminary hearing of the evidence in Surrey Provincial Court, which ended Monday. There is a publication ban on evidence presented at Maple Batalia preliminary hearings. Batalia was a 19-year-old student attending SFU Surrey when she was gunned down Sept. 28, 2011 in the parkade outside the university in Central City. See BATALIA / Page 4
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