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Councilmembers filed 36 budget changes for Tuesday. Here's who asked for what, and how it compares to the forecast

Update: the first day of Council budget proposals is posted. The ones that name General Fund money add up to about $19.8 million for 2027. The October forecast added about $1.2 million to that fund.

By Seattle Politics staffUpdated

Seattle councilmembers have put their first proposed changes to Mayor Katie Wilson's 2027-2028 budget on paper. The list for Tuesday's Select Budget Committee meeting, posted by Council Central Staff, has 36 items across 16 city departments. Councilmember Dionne Foster announced one of them Monday, a $1 million plan to work down the City Attorney's case backlog, in a Council release.

This is a follow-up to our Oct. 23 story, Seattle's budget gets rewritten starting Tuesday. Then, the agendas listed only department names. Now the proposals themselves are public, so residents can see who is asking for what before the committee meets at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

What our records add

Who filed the most. Counting the prime sponsor on each item in Central Staff's summary list:

Nearly every item also lists two co-sponsors. Under the process Central Staff laid out, other members can add their names only in open session, after each proposal is discussed.

The biggest asks. Most items are small, and three make up most of the money:

  • $10 million in one-time General Fund money for the Office of Housing, $7 million for rentals and $3 million for homeownership (Foster, with Rinck and Lin), per the housing packet.
  • $3 million for a public market project in Highland Park (Rinck, with Saka and Foster), per the planning packet.
  • $2.5 million a year and two staff for a Central District and Southeast Seattle reinvestment program (Hollingsworth, with Saka and Foster), per the neighborhoods packet.

How it compares to the forecast. The proposals that name General Fund money add about $19.8 million for 2027 by our count. That leaves out items paid from other funds and one job restoration with no dollar amount listed. The same list includes FG-901, the committee's formal entry for the October revenue forecast. According to the Finance General packet, it adds about $1.2 million in General Fund revenue for 2027 and takes away about $2.4 million in 2028. Real estate excise tax funds drop by $8.4 million in 2027. We covered that forecast in Seattle's October revenue forecast adds just $8.8 million. That figure counted 2026 through 2028 and every fund. FG-901 is narrower: it covers the General Fund and other non-transportation funds for 2027 and 2028 only.

This comparison does not mean the proposals will fail. Many are one-time, and members can pay for additions by cutting elsewhere. The chair's balancing package decides which ones survive.

What isn't on Tuesday's list. Rivera's $418,000 gun violence proposal and Rinck's $8 million request for gender-based violence services, both announced earlier this month, are not among Tuesday's items. Human Services, Police and CARE are on the Oct. 29 agenda. As of Monday morning, the proposal packets for the Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 meetings had not been posted to those agenda items.

The day's agenda

Tuesday's meeting opens with public comment and an overview of budget proposals. Then come Seattle Municipal Court, the City Attorney, Civil Rights, Labor Standards, Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, Housing, Planning, Finance General, Construction and Inspections, Sustainability, Education and Early Learning, Neighborhoods, City Light, Seattle Public Utilities, IT, and Finance and Administrative Services. Central Staff summarizes each proposal, and its sponsor can speak to it.

Today we also published closer looks at the City Attorney backlog proposals, the JumpStart housing changes and where the neighborhood-specific money would go.

What's next

According to the Central Staff process overview:

  • Oct. 28 and 29: proposals for the remaining departments, including Transportation, Fire, Parks, Human Services, Police and CARE.
  • Nov. 4: Strauss presents the chair's balancing package.
  • Nov. 5: second public hearing, with remote comment at 1 p.m. and in-person comment at 5 p.m.
  • Nov. 9: deadline for self-balanced amendments to the chair's package.