Council budget asks top $80 million against about $26 million found. Our count of who filed what, before Thursday's police session

Councilmembers' proposed additions to Mayor Katie Wilson's 2027-2028 budget already add up to more than $80 million in new General Fund spending over two years, PubliCola reported Tuesday, and that is before proposals for the police and human services budgets. The money the Council has identified to pay for new things is about $26 million.

For residents, the gap is the story of the next three weeks. Budget Chair Dan Strauss will have to choose which asks survive in his balancing package on Nov. 4, and anything above the available money has to be paid for with cuts elsewhere.

This follows our counts of Tuesday's 36 proposals and Wednesday's 58.

Where the $26 million comes from

According to PubliCola:

• About $12 million over 2026 through 2028: $7.8 million in net new revenue from the October forecast plus $4 million in interest on JumpStart payroll tax money.
• About $14 million from an unexpected late JumpStart tax payment.

Wilson told PubliCola she trusts the Council with the new money but hopes it goes to "truly one-time expenditures." District 1's Rob Saka said the city found "a lot of money" that it looks like the Council has "to play with," according to the same report.

What our records add: the two-day count

We counted the prime sponsor on every item in the Central Staff packets for the Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 Select Budget Committee sessions. Combined:

• Dan Strauss (District 6, budget chair): 18
• Rob Saka (District 1): 16
• Joy Hollingsworth (District 3, Council president): 14
• Dionne Foster (Position 9): 12
• Robert Kettle (District 7): 10
• Eddie Lin (District 2): 8
• Alexis Mercedes Rinck (Position 8): 7
• Maritza Rivera (District 4): 4
• Debora Juarez (District 5): 3
• The committee as a whole: 2, both forecast updates

That is 94 items. Reported totals of 160 to 170 changes include amendments to budget bills and the proposals for Thursday's departments, which had not been posted when we checked Wednesday morning.

The money, one year at a time. Our earlier counts put Tuesday's General Fund asks at about $19.8 million for 2027 and Wednesday's at about $29.6 million, counting only the larger of two competing fire overtime fixes. That is roughly $49 million for 2027 alone, before Thursday. PubliCola's $80 million figure covers two years.

The biggest single items so far:

• $10 million one-time for the Office of Housing (Foster). See our story on her housing slate.
• $7 million a year for the District Project Fund for neighborhood traffic safety (Saka).
• $7.1 million a year to restore Fire Department overtime (Strauss), or a $5.1 million version (Foster). See our story on the two versions.
• $3 million one-time for community arts (Hollingsworth) and $3 million for a public market project in Highland Park (Rinck).
• $2.5 million a year for the Central District and Southeast Seattle reinvestment program (Hollingsworth).

Some items cost the General Fund nothing because they redirect existing money or only ask departments for reports. Our counts treat those as items but add no dollars for them.

What Thursday adds

The Oct. 29 agenda covers CARE, the City Budget Office, Human Services, the Mayor's Office and the Police Department. Announced proposals that have not appeared in either posted day's packets include:

• Rivera's $418,000 two-year contract with the National Network for Safe Communities for a gun violence strategy. See our earlier story.
• Rinck's $8 million request for domestic and sexual violence services. See our earlier story.
• Kettle's police amendments. He told PubliCola that with a lean budget, "the ability to really make changes is going to be problematic."

The mayor's $37 million, two-year shelter package sits in the Human Services budget; Kettle told KOMO he does not think it is at risk but expects amendments placing conditions on it.

What's next

According to Central Staff's process overview:

• Thursday, Oct. 29, 9:30 a.m.: proposals for CARE, Human Services, Police and the other remaining departments. No votes are taken.
• Wednesday, Nov. 4: Strauss's balancing package.
• Thursday, Nov. 5: public hearing, remote comment at 1 p.m. and in-person at 5 p.m.
• Monday, Nov. 9: deadline for self-balanced amendments to the chair's package.