(The Center Square) – Seattle City Councilmember and Chair of the Select Budget Committee Dan Strauss revealed the city council’s 2025-2026 budget balancing package, which increases the projected budget deficit for 2027 and beyond.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s proposed budget projected a $76 million budget deficit for the city after 2026. The Seattle City Council’s balancing budget proposal increases the projected deficit in 2027 to $101 million.
The key driver of this budget gap increase comes from a recent revenue forecast for Seattle. The latest general fund revenue forecast showed a $48.6 million decrease in general fund revenue from 2024 through 2026 since the proposed 2025-2026 budget was transferred over to the Seattle City Council last month.
The revenue forecast also estimated approximately $40 million in revenue increases across 2024, 2025, and 2026. These increases come from the real estate excise tax, short term rental tax, school zone cameras, and the JumpStart Payroll expense tax, which saw revenue estimates increase by $27.4 million.
This leaves an approximately $10 million gap between increased and decreased revenue sources.
The proposed 2025-2026 city council budget package also reduces the number of proposed layoffs for city departments, although no specifics were given. Harrell’s budget proposed 159 cuts to city positions.
The Seattle City Council’s balancing budget proposal builds off of Harrell’s proposed budget by broadly working to increase community and public safety funding, ensure youth and families have access to food, address homelessness through a housing-first approach, and increase funding for affordable housing initiatives.
“We are not rubber stamping [Harrell’s’] budget and his budget was a good starting place for us to continue the work,” Strauss said during Wednesday’s Select Budget Committee meeting.
In the last week, city officials held multiple discussions about the use of one-time funding on a one-time or two-time basis. This led to questions of whether the one-time funding is now ongoing for budget needs.
Strauss made it clear during his opening remarks on Wednesday that some programs are receiving one-time funding as part of the 2025-2026 budget package. As for programs that had reduced funding in the proposed budget, the council cannot promise that these funds will be available in future years.
The council’s budget package delays the layoffs until June 2025
Councilmembers will submit amendments to the balancing package over the next few days. The Select Budget Committee will then hold a public hearing on the balancing package and amendments on Nov. 12.
Votes on the amendments will take place Nov. 13-15.
