(The Center Square) – The Seattle City Council will begin wading through amendments to Mayor Katie Wilson’s 2027-28 budget on Tuesday that add tens of millions of dollars in additional spending, as the self-described democratic socialist proposes drawing on one-time fund balances to fill deficits until at least 2029.
Council members submitted 170 amendments by Oct. 20 after reviewing the mayor’s budget proposal earlier this month. They’ll spend this week considering what else to fund and restore and where the money will come from before Councilmember Dan Strauss, the budget chair, proposes a “balancing package.”
Altogether, the budget amendments add more than $45.7 million in spending across the 2027-28 biennium; however, the following is not an exhaustive list of every amendment, and the council budget materials for this week do not explain how the officials intend to offset most of the spending.
The money has to come from somewhere, whether one-time fund balances, cuts or raising revenue.
Wilson entered office inheriting a $175 million general fund deficit for 2027. Her proposal reduces that structural deficit to approximately $23 million for 2027 and $18 million in 2028. She proposed drawing on one-time funds to cover both shortfalls, so any additional spending could require cuts or more revenue.
“A tight budget should sharpen our priorities,” Councilmember Rob Saka wrote Monday in a statement announcing a 20-amendment package he proposed, “not weaken our commitment to neighborhoods.”
One of his amendments would divide $14 million equally among the seven council districts over 2027 and 2028 for street safety improvements. Another $1.3 million would restore what Saka described as a 29% reduction to the pothole repair budget, $500,000 would help clean up around West Seattle, and $235,000 would turn graffiti into a legal mural, among other community safety-related amendments.
Saka, Councilmembers Robert Kettle, Maritza Rivera and Deb Juarez have criticized Wilson’s budget as deprioritizing public safety. Kettle calls it the “unfund” budget, a spin-off on the 2020 defund movement.
He proposed $562,000 for 2027 and $715,000 for 2028 to fund four assistant city prosecutors, plus $554,000 across both years for toxicology testing support and witness travel. The spending would help address the city’s backlog of about 5,000 misdemeanor cases in court or awaiting charging decisions.
Councilmember Dionne Foster separately proposed $1 million in one-time funding for 2027 to address the backlog in partnership with City Attorney Erika Evans, who says charges can take two years to file.
“Addressing the inherited backlog of criminal cases is critical to ensuring our justice system works effectively for victims, defendants, and the broader community,” Evans wrote in a statement Monday.
Many of those are domestic violence cases; Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck proposed $8 million with that in mind earlier this month to fund DV prevention and victim services across 2027 and 2028.
Rivera proposed an additional $418,000 in Wilson’s budget for a two-year contract with the National Network for Safe Communities to address gun violence. The amendment follows numerous shootings, with one in Aurora last weekend leaving dozens of casings in the street and bullet holes in homes.
“Since January, I have worked to encourage Mayor Wilson and city leadership to adopt the [NNSC] approach,” Rivera wrote in a newsletter on Monday, citing a council resolution from last month calling on Wilson to work with NNSC. “I have a proposal from NNSC, which I have shared with the mayor.”
Juarez proposed an amendment that would provide $500,000 over the next two years for planning and development work in North Aurora. Foster also proposed $10 million for housing providers next year, with $7 million funding affordable rental housing and $3 million for homeownership projects.
Council President Joy Hollingsworth proposed $2.5 million in annual spending to fund a neighborhood reinvestment program and two staff positions to revitalize the Central District and Southeast Seattle.
Rinck also wants to spend $3 million in one-time funding to support a public market in Highland Park.
The council allocated $1 million in 2026 to support the African Community and Housing Development International Public Market, which remains unspent. A council staff memo for Tuesday’s meeting says the Highland Park market is still spending down $4.5 million in other equitable development contracts.
Beyond additional spending, Foster proposed two measures intended to curb future budget deficits.
The first would require Wilson and future mayors to submit “balanced financial plans for the General Fund and JumpStart Payroll Expense Tax Fund.” The other one would require council to pass budgets that “maintain balanced financial plans for the same period of time,” according to her announcement.
“City Council should also account for the financial decisions we make and their long-term impacts,” Foster wrote in a statement last Thursday when announcing the long-term sustainability measures.
Council staff will present Strauss’ balancing package on Nov. 4, before a public budget hearing the next day. The officials then have until Nov. 9 to submit additional amendments to Strauss’ package.