More than half of Seattle’s general fund spending will be on public safety under the 2026 Harrell proposal

View the full 2026 Budget Proposal (PDF)

Trailing progressive challenger Katie Wilson headed into the November election, Mayor Bruce Harrell has delivered his most uncertain Seattle budget plan yet since taking office four years ago. This budget season, the incumbent mayor is depending on Seattle voters for large chunks of the just under $2 billion in general fund spending his administration has proposed.  And economic realities under the Trump administration have put the accountants in major West Coast cities on edge with potentially debilitating whipsaws in policy.

Plus, Harrell might be budgeting for a city he won’t lead after a terrible showing in the August primary.

Besides all that, the 2026 Seattle budget proposal has now taken firm shape with Harrell handing over his 702-page plan to the Seattle City Council for debate, and, if those economic forecasts swing wildly lower again, cuts before the end of the year.

The administration says its plan is already overcoming a $150 million shortfall caused by the economic uncertainties.

The 2026 Harrell plan might be set on more unstable foundations but it has a familiar shape, like last year, placing a priority on police and public safety spending.

The adjustments in the big picture are about decimal points. Transportation spending stable at 5% of the general fund, administration spending down two points to 19%, arts and culture spending down a point to 7%, education up a point to 15%, spending to combat displacement and affordability up to 4%, and and public safety climbing once again — up a point to 50% in the 2026 proposal.

Seattle is now spending around $490 million a year on its police department with plans to spend more than a billion total on all its public safety departments in 2026.

Meanwhile, the Harrell administration is proposing the city spend $225 million in “homelessness response” next year, “including funding to open three new shelters with over 150 new non-congregate beds, building on the two new tiny home villages set to open this fall.”

Included in the 2026 budget plan is a general framework the Harrell administration has been focused on — cutbacks for most departments but smaller cuts for public safety. This summer, city departments were being prepared for 8% cuts while the Seattle Police Department and spending on homelessness resources were being lined up for less drastic reductions.

Improved — but still weakened — economic forecasts have dulled the knife and SPD is actually in line for a $35 million boost in spending buoyed by the department’s bonus-boosted success in hiring new officers.

Under Harrell’s plan, there will also be increased spending on the city’s new CARE Department, its “Community Assisted Response and Engagement” police alternative program that has deployed across the city. CHS reported here on the plans for the East Precinct headquarters of the CARE department for its “Community Crisis Responders” on First Hill.

Under Harrell’s budget proposal, a newly authorized tenth of a cent sales tax bump would pay for further CARE expansion, raising $9.5 million to double the number of CARE Community Crisis Responders and add new dispatchers and call takers to the 911 call center.

Other new taxes are also key to the Harrell proposal.

First, voters are set to decide on a new $1.3 billion education levy that would power several corners of city’s social services budget as well as provide funding for a restoration of police on school campus programs.

Also on the ballot, Seattle voters will decide on a proposal that would cut B&O tax for small businesses while boosting the tax on Amazon, Starbucks, and any company making more than $2 million a year. The tax changes would generate an estimated $81 million in new revenue to help the city stave off cuts.

CHS reported here as Harrell teamed up with Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck to champion the proposal. Rinck leads the council’s Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Changes.

Harrell’s team-up on a progressive business tax policy is part of his administration’s shifts this election year as the mayor has tried to balance his centrist approach to policing and social services with increasing threats of cutbacks and federal law enforcement intervention from agencies like ICE and Homeland Security. His weak second-place finish in the August primary was one sign the balance may not be working.

If approved, the new boost in the business tax would join the city’s JumpStart tax as recent new “alternative revenue” sources cobbled together as Seattle leaders have tried to find new ways to pay for social services despite cutbacks in Olympia and Washington D.C.

That Harrell is only now bringing his own alternative revenue source to the table at this late point in his term might be part of the challenge his reelection will face. On the flipside, that kind of fiscal conservatism might end up being a factor in what would be a come from behind win for the incumbent.

Meanwhile, progressive tax policy remains a critical core in Harrell’s budget. As a City Councilmember in 2020, Harrell voted against the original JumpStart payroll tax, which passed with a 7-2 vote.

Now five years later in Harrell’s 2026 budget proposal, the JumpStart tax on the city’s largest companies originally created to help in Seattle’s pandemic recovery and to fund affordable housing is again playing a key role in staving off cutbacks in city services and programs.

Under his plan, Harrell is proposing $190 million in JumpStart revenue to be diverted to general fund spending. That is down from $287 million in his 2025 budget proposal but the funding remains key to keeping Seattle’s hopes for progress alive.

The Seattle City Council will begin deliberations on the budget proposal Thursday with plans for holding a final vote on the 2026 budget on Friday, November 21st.

You can view the full 2026 budget announcement from the mayor’s office here:

Select highlights of investments in the mayor’s proposed 2026 budget include:

• $349.5 million investment in affordable housing, targeted at building needed affordable rental housing, housing for people exiting homelessness, and new homeownership opportunities – including $20 million for Seattle Housing Authority’s Northgate Commons redevelopment project.

• $225 million in homelessness response, including funding to open three new shelters with over 150 new non-congregate beds, building on the two new tiny home villages set to open this fall.

• $52 million for food investments, with $12 million in new additions, to increase access to healthy, nutritious foods including expanding the Fresh Bucks program and supports for food banks and farmers markets.

• $29.4 million to fund the Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) to prevent displacement and support property ownership and capacity building at community-based organizations – representing the largest EDI investment to date.

• $27.6 million targeted investment plan to safeguard essential services threatened by federal funding cuts, including backfilling shelter and housing vouchers, meal-access programs, and rental assistance.

• $26 million to keep up with unprecedented, record-breaking police hiring, building on the nearly 130 officers hired so far this year, with 170 expected by the end of the year

• $23 million to support construction of 75 blocks of sidewalk and sidewalk alternatives to enhance pedestrian safety.

• $23.6 million to support Seattle’s vibrant arts scene, including permanent funding for Hope Corps to connect local artists and creative workers to employment opportunities.

• $13.2 million in enhanced supports for small businesses, part of a more than $40 million Office of Economic Development budget, including the Seattle Restored program to fill vacant storefronts with new small businesses and the Back to Business program to support small businesses impacted by vandalism.

• $11.7 million to increase human services provider contracts and support wage increases for these critical workers who serve Seattle’s most vulnerable neighbors every day.

• $10.8 million for services for immigrant and refugee communities, representing a 70% increase over 2025 in funding, including legal supports, Know Your Rights trainings, and workforce development.

• $9.5 million to double the number of CARE Community Crisis Responders and add new dispatchers and call takers to the 911 call center.

• $7.4 million to expand the Seattle Fire Department’s (SFD) Health 99 post overdose team and add detox and residential treatment beds to help those suffering from substance use disorder.

• $7 million in increased staffing to support faster Sound Transit expansion to West Seattle and Ballard.

• $4 million in a new fund that brings public safety efforts piloted Downtown and in Little Saigon to additional Seattle neighborhoods. These efforts have helped lead to a significant reduction in 9-1-1 calls, and are centered on improving public safety, promoting economic growth, and encouraging neighborhood renewal in neighborhoods like Lake City and Little Saigon.

• $3.6 million for removeable vehicle barriers at Pike Place Market and pedestrian safety infrastructure at the Seattle Center campus in advance of the FIFA World Cup games.

• $2.7 million to start the redevelopment of the Green Lake Community Center, renovating the 100-year-old building in one complete phase as a new state-of-the-art community hub.

• $2.1 million to add 20 new firefighter recruits, totaling 100 recruits in next class.

• $1.8 million towards reopening the Seattle Indian Health Board’s Thunderbird Treatment Center, and other investments in projects reflecting the priorities of Indigenous community partners.

• $100,000 for a tree conservation easement pilot program to incentivize tree preservation on private property, building on the recent expansion of the Trees for Neighborhoods program.

• $100,000 to establish new sustainability and development standards for hotel construction to support development and stakeholder engagement.

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