(The Center Square) – Despite ongoing deficits, the Seattle City Council is considering $55.5 million in net additions to Mayor Katie Wilson’s 2027-28 budget proposal amid a $175 million general fund hole.
Wilson’s first budget proposes various measures to reduce the structural deficit to roughly $23 million, with minor recurring deficits in 2028 and 2029, while relying on available fund balances to fill the rest.
The council spent the last few weeks considering changes to Wilson’s plan before Councilmember Dan Strauss, the budget chair, released his “balancing package” Tuesday. Staff presented the amendments to the entire council on Wednesday, with any remaining “self-balanced amendments” due by Monday.
The Select Budget Committee will hold a hearing Thursday to consider feedback on the package.
“The mayor’s proposed budget unnecessarily took austere measures to balance the budget,” Strauss said Wednesday, referring to budget transfers, offsets and service reductions, such as cutting vacant public safety-related positions and reducing fire overtime. “There was no new funding of any kind.”
He said the council could use revenue from the county’s recent sales tax increase, improved forecasts, an off-cycle JumpStart payroll-tax payment and reduced reserve contributions.
The net general fund addition is about $55.5 million, based on The Center Square’s review of the package. The Center Square also contacted council staff to confirm the total difference from the mayor’s budget, but did not receive a response before publication.
Despite the additional spending, several council members’ priorities didn’t make it into Strauss’ plan.
“We all probably added things that didn’t make it in because we just don’t have the funding,” Councilmember Maritza Rivera said Wednesday regarding the trade-offs between amendments.
Some restorations from Wilson’s budget include $14.2 million through 2028 for fire overtime; $1.37 million for five vacant civilian investigative support positions; $1.92 million to fund nine vacant parking enforcement positions; and a $6.78 million proviso for planned school safety projects, among others.
Additional spending beyond Wilson’s budget includes about $7.12 million for an RV safe lot; $7 million split between the council districts for transportation projects; $6.4 million to reinvest in Central District and Southeast Seattle; $5 million for gender-based violence services, $5 million for housing and more.
“My goal is ongoing funding. I understand the structural challenges in our budget, but we’ll keep pushing for it,” Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck said about her gender-based violence services.
Several amendments didn’t make the cut in his balancing package, including $12 million that would’ve allowed the Seattle Police Department to continue hiring 12 recruits per month. Wilson wanted to halt net officer growth in 2028, and that might happen, leaving SPD below pre-pandemic staffing levels.
Other amendments that didn’t make the cut include $2.3 million annually to expand Seattle’s crisis response, $1.45 million annually for graffiti abatement, $900,000 across 2027 and 2028 for three civilian positions in the Real Time Crime Center, $1.25 million in 2027 for pothole repairs and more.
“There is little to no additional room for ongoing funding,” Strauss said Wednesday, noting he won’t support any amendment that takes his plan out of balance since several additions use one-time funds.
In an interview after the meeting, The Center Square asked Strauss how the council could justify the extra spending as the city still anticipates deficits in 2028 and 2029, though much smaller than today.
He explained a process of finding offsets throughout the budget, as described earlier with the county’s sales tax, revenue forecasts and the off-cycle JumpStart payment. Strauss said he looks at two things to gauge the city’s fiscal health: the structural gap and how many years the current budget balances.
“If we cut everything all at once, we would be in a worse place because we’d be cutting things that we need,” Strauss said, referring to plateauing revenue growth over recent years. “We have cash reserves; we have other one-time cash, but that one-time cash doesn’t count toward our structural spending.”
Strauss said the budget proposal is balanced, though much of that one-time funding is to cover the gap over the next few years, including amendments like the $14.2 million for fire overtime. The city may need to reconsider obligations like fire overtime unless they reduce it again after 2028.
He said his balancing package adds about $4.3 million in ongoing revenue and about $4.4 million in ongoing spending. Still, that doesn’t include all of one-time spending in his package for things that they may need to fund later.
“The delta of what I’ve added to this problem is $100,000, which could be erased if we get one tower project going,” Strauss said, arguing they can ease the structural gap by attracting more construction.