Seattle City Council members voted on amendments to Select Budget Committee Chair Teresa Mosqueda’s 2023-2024 proposed Balancing Package, the vehicle City Council uses to respond to the mayor’s proposed biennial budget. The City Council will vote on the City Budget at its Full Council meeting on Nov. 29.
The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber, in collaboration with our members and reciprocal partners, encouraged councilmembers to support proposals that reflect the priorities of a majority of Seattle voters and the business community. These included efforts to prioritize public safety and align budget decisions to effectively address the issue. The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce also advocated with the Mayor and Council to work together to address the $145 million budget deficit within existing revenues, and not seek tax increases, which is reflected in the current budget Council is poised to adopt.
One of the differences between Mosqueda’s balancing package and the mayor’s proposed budget concerned the home department of the Parking Enforcement Unit (PEU). In 2020, then-Mayor Jenny Durkan and the City Council moved the PEU from the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). The transfer caused a myriad of issues and cost the city millions of dollars.
On Monday, the council voted to maintain Mayor Harrell’s proposal to move the Parking Enforcement Unit from SDOT back to SPD. This transfer eliminates significant General Fund overhead costs. Councilmember Dan Strauss introduced the amendment to move the PEU back to SPD. It was approved by a 6-1 vote: Andrew Lewis, Alex Pederson, Lisa Herbold, Debora Juarez, Sara Nelson, and Strauss voted yes; Mosqueda voted no; Kshama Sawant and Tammy Morales abstained.
The move will save $16.6 million during the biennium in General Fund dollars that can now contribute to the city’s emergency reserves, per City financial policy. Council also plans to use these savings to supplement other areas of the budget, including the LEAD and CoLEAD homelessness and repeat offender diversion programs, SPD media recruitment efforts, Human Service Department (HSD) resources for survivors of gender-based violence, and key infrastructure projects.
Mosqueda’s balancing package permanently cut 80 sworn police officer positions. Councilmember Pederson introduced an amendment to reject Mosqueda’s proposal to make those cuts permanent, stating that “abrogation of positions is a degradation of recruitment and retention.” SPD has struggled in these categories in recent years.
The motion failed in a 6-3 vote. Councilmembers Pedersen, Lewis, and Nelson supported the motion; Pederson and Nelson expressed concern that permanent cuts send the wrong message to potential recruits, current officers, and the public. Pedersen noted that although current staff levels at the police department are low, retaining the funding for those 80 unfilled positions would give SPD more flexibility as staffing levels recover. Councilmember Herbold, chair of the council’s Public Safety and Human Services Committee and supporter of these permanent cuts, emphasized to her colleagues that the police’s hiring plan remains fully funded. She considers the cuts to be good budgeting practice, and not an indication of the council’s attitude toward SPD.
In defense of the cuts, Mosqueda argued that council can add funding for additional positions and salaries in the future. However, in that case, those dollars would be pulled from other programs and departments. Nelson noted that it is easier to remove positions than to reinstate since such a proposal at that time would have to compete with other city and budget priorities. The former requires only 5 votes, the latter 6.
Other highlights included in the 2023-2024 Budget:
$253 million for affordable housing, the largest amount City has set aside for such purpose.
$90 million to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority to provide for outreach, shelter and other related homelessness programs.
Increase in $10 in the vehicle licensing fee, increasing total fee amount to $50. The revenues generated from the increased fee would be dedicated for certain bridge improvements, general bridge maintenance and pedestrian safety projects.
Fully fund and cover the current rate of inflation for Human Services providers, which is forecasted for 7.6% in 2023, and 6.7% in 2024.
Following the vote, Chamber CEO Rachel Smith released a statement regarding the Chamber’s position on the police officer position cuts.
"Budgets are a clear reflection of priorities and voters have shown remarkable agreement on an all-of-the above approach to public safety – one that includes the right number of officers, in addition to reforms and diversified emergency responses. This September, 73% of voters agreed that hiring more police officers should be an immediate priority for the city.
Despite the voters’ alignment on this issue, today the Seattle City Council took a vote to cut 80 police officer positions, as well as reduce funding to other police programs and investments. While much was said about how these positions and investments could potentially be restored in future years, we need to call a spade a spade: this was an opportunity to rebuild trust with the voters by investing in our public safety system, and today’s actions further erode the system and public trust.
Our community is progressive and wants to see progress on the most-pressing issues. And despite economic uncertainty, the city is well-positioned to do that: we know the priorities of the voters and the City has resources, having financially recovered from the pandemic, moved several of its costly programs to be funded by levy lid lifts, has revenues that are growing at a rate higher than population and inflation, and has nearly $300 million in new revenue from the payroll expense tax. By making a plan and prioritizing the use of revenues, we can make progress."
Original source can be found here.
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