Tag Archives: taxes

Wilson budget plan wipes out Seattle’s $175M deficit — without new ‘progressive revenue’

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Mayor Katie Wilson outlined a city budget Tuesday to close an inherited $175 million deficit without tax increases or withdrawals from city reserves as Seattle’s fiscal plans have surpassed the $9 billion mark.

“We cannot keep lurching from shortfall to shortfall year after year,” Wilson said in her address at the Seattle Central Library unveiling her 2027-2028 budget proposal. “We cannot keep kicking the can down the road, because there is no more road.”

The Seattle City Council will now pick up and shape the edges of the mayor’s proposed $9.15 billion budget for 2027 and $9.49 billion for 2028.

Seattle’s $175 million General Fund shortfall stems from years of spending outrunning revenue growth, worsened by pandemic economic shifts. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s summer politics were quiet — The fall ballot fights will not be

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Pedersen’s easy August win. You can explore the Primary Election Results maps here thanks to the Washington Community Alliance.

While area leaders all but have their campaign races tied up headed into November there will still be a busy fall political season across Capitol Hill and the Central District.

Maps from the August primary tell the story of the highest profile individual seat up for grabs on Capitol Hill. Two-decade incumbent State Sen. Jamie Pedersen’s 67% showing in the primary is evident in the results for each election precinct across Capitol Hill and most of his 43rd District save for the blocks of central Broadway where first-time challenger and “Tax the Rich” proponent Hannah Sabio-Howell managed a flat-footed tie.

CHS reported here on the funding surge behind Pedersen, the party’s current Majority Leader in the state Senate, an architect of the Millionaires Tax, and a veteran lawmaker who has been part of 43rd District leadership for twenty years, as state Democratic leaders helped lock down the race. Institutional donors and statewide PACs can now shift their war chests to competitive general election battlegrounds elsewhere in the state. Continue reading →

Proposal would upgrade Broadway Business Improvement Area with higher caps and a recurring annual bump for clean-up and promotion

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The new proposed boundary changes are focused on only the removal at E Pike. The original BIA was formed with Area 1 and Area 2 boundaries shown here. Area 1 includes the parcels located just north of E Roy up to the lot lines before E Aloha. This area was drawn as a distinct sub-district at the time to separate it from the heavier service needs of the denser core to the south.

A Seattle City Council committee Friday will consider a proposal to adjust the Broadway Business Improvement Area boundaries and lift assessment caps to counter inflation. The plan would raise the district’s maximum annual rate from $3,500 to $5,000, expanding a historical $200,000 baseline budget before adding a recurring $200 annual increase starting in 2032.

Under the plan from Human Services, Labor, and Economic Development Committee chair Alexis Mercedes Rinck, anchor institutions like Seattle Central College and neighborhood bank branches would become standard maximum-rate payers to reinforce basic maintenance services managed by the BIA across more than 150 businesses along the Broadway commercial corridor.

According to the report on the proposal prepared by the Seattle Office of Economic Development, “the prior assessment limits no longer reflect current economic conditions, operating costs, or the scale of services” provided by the BIA.

The Broadway BIA assessment is structured as a business-tenant levy though property owners are directly involved in notification and billing. The assessment formula is levied directly on the commercial tenants and operators within the BIA boundary. The typical small-to-midsize business currently pays between $400 and $1,500 annually, depending on its size and reported gross revenue.

The changes including the much-needed bump in revenue from increased assessments and a surgical change to the BIA’s borders to remove one key building on the area’s southern edge come as city officials and neighborhood stakeholders continue to jockey for position around the formation of a possible new Capitol Hill BIA covering the Pike/Pine neighborhood. CHS reported in July on the emergence of a new core group of stakeholders in the effort. District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth has backed the Pike/Pine BIA initiative. Continue reading →

Seattle mayor, council close rift over universal school meals in finalized $1.3B Families, Education, Preschool spending plan

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(Image: Seattle Public Schools)

Mayor Katie Wilson, District 3 representative and Council President Joy Hollingsworth, and the Seattle City Council have found common ground in the effort to launch a new universal school meals program as part of the city’s new Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy spending plan.

Following Tuesday’s council vote, Seattle is set to launch universal free school meals for all Seattle Public School students starting this September. The solution was approved as part of the broader Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy spending plan, delivering on initiatives to eliminate student hunger and increase affordability for local families.

Under the agreed strategy, the universal meal program will begin in the 2026–2027 school year using one-time funds, with the FEPP Levy officially taking over funding for the 2027–2028 school year. Continue reading →

Mayor and advocates say 2026 Seattle Transit Measure ‘will help residents afford their lives in our expensive city’

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Wilson at the June unveiling of her Seattle Transit Measure proposal (Image: City of Seattle)

The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the 2026 Seattle Transit Measure for the November ballot, proposing a 10-year renewal funded by a 0.3% sales tax.

Generating an estimated $138 million annually, the package aims to significantly expand bus service in the city, strengthen system safety, and address regional affordability for residents across Seattle.

Mayor Katie Wilson and transit advocates are applauding the vote.

“Getting around is the second biggest expense after housing,” said Kirk Hovenkotter, Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition. “The Seattle Transit Measure will help residents afford their lives in our expensive city.”

“It’s a package that respects people’s hard-earned dollars and brings 100,000 more bus trips to Seattle every year and funds 22,000 free transit passes for low-income households,” Wilson said in a statement. “Next week, we will gather in City Hall so I can sign the bill and send it to voters for their consideration this November. To everyone who showed up and helped shape the Seattle Transit Measure – I also say thank you, and congratulations.”

CHS reported here on unsuccessful attempts to shrink the mayor’s proposal for a major expansion of the Seattle Transportation Benefit District. Wilson’s 2026 Seattle Transit Measure renewal would doubles the existing sales tax.

If approved by voters, officials say the proposal will expand Seattle’s capacity from 180,000 to 280,000 annual bus trips — a 47% increase in total service. The plan boosts frequencies on 10 to 15 key routes, expands late-night and weekend service, and prioritizes electric buses in South Seattle and the Duwamish Valley. Crucially, the measure will “double the number of free ORCA cards provided to low-income households” by expanding subsidized passes to 12,000 additional residents, while allocating funds to “support the recommendations of the King County Regional Transit Safety Task Force.” Continue reading →

City Council set to let voters decide on Seattle Transportation Benefit District measure that leaves mayor’s full tax bump intact

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The Seattle City Council and council president and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth are set to finalize the Seattle Transportation Benefit District measure Tuesday leaving the scale of the  Mayor Katie Wilson-championed sales tax bump to pay for “better-than-baseline” bus service on key lines in the city intact as the proposal heads for the November ballot.

Last week in committee, council members wrestled over a roster of amendments including one from Bob Kettle that would have decreased the size of the proposed sales tax increase.

Wilson’s 2026 Seattle Transit Measure renews and expands a citywide 0.30% sales tax over 10 years, generating an estimated $138 million a year to fund roughly 140,000 additional annual Metro bus service hours, improved regional connections, and expanded ORCA pass access. It also allocates dedicated funding for transit security officers, behavioral health specialists, and ADA accessibility infrastructure. Continue reading →

Citing fears about the Millionaire’s Tax, Hollingsworth proposes slicing back mayor’s early education spending priorities

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Seattle City Council president and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth is proposing slicing back some key initiatives backed by Mayor Katie Wilson in the spending plan $1.3 billion voter-approved Families and Education levy.

Wednesday, Hollingsworth introduced a series of proposed amendments and cutbacks to the levy implementation plan, prioritizing food security for public school students as the council president said the city might need to prepare for rapid fallout from challenges to the state’s new Millionaire’s Tax. Hollingsworth said a more conservative approach to spending would give the city time to see if the state-level tax base survives the courts and the ballot box. Continue reading →

Plan for Pike/Pine Business Improvement Area still progressing after organizer shakeup

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From the sales brochure for Pike/Pine’s Harvard Market shopping center real estate listing

The current roster of Seattle BIA assessment areas

The effort to create a new Pike/Pine Business Improvement Area that would add a special assessment for property owners to pay for safety and cleanup resources in the area isn’t dead but the neighborhood’s leading chamber of commerce is no longer leading the charge to organize the zone.

CHS last reported in December on the campaign to create the new BIA as District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth backed the effort with a $50,000 grant to help continue the multi-year process led by a group of neighborhood business interests including the GSBA chamber of commerce working with the Seattle Office of Economic Development. Continue reading →

Council begins debate over Wilson Seattle Transit Measure proposal including bid to slice tax

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Two members of the Seattle City Council’s transportation committee including the group’s chair say they want to significantly change the mayor’s plans for a 0.15% Seattle sales tax increase to pay for “better-than-baseline” bus service on key lines in the city.

They’ll have time on their side in any political battles to come. To get the measure ready in time to be on the November ballot, the council has a deadline of the August 4th primary.

Committee member and downtown representative Bob Kettle who has increasingly positioned his office as a foil to Mayor Katie Wilson’s most progressive initiatives, says he will lead a charge to cap the tax increase proposal.

The mayor’s proposal would increase the sales tax by 0.15% to 0.3%. Kettle has announced a proposed amendment that would increase the sales tax “by a more affordable 0.05%.”

“A healthy transit and transportation system is absolutely essential for Seattle,” Kettle said in a statement. “However, we must spend our public dollars strategically, rather than raising the sales tax simply because we can. Every day, I hear from neighbors about how living in Seattle is becoming less and less affordable. My alternative offers a pragmatic increase in transit funding for bus service and ORCA cards while preserving the flexibility we need for emerging transit-related investments.” Continue reading →

Seattle shaping spending plan for $1.3B voter-approved Families and Education levy

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The Seattle City Council is shaping a six-year, implementation plan for the $1.3 billion Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy passed by voters in 2025.

A Tuesday morning committee meeting is dedicated to the proposed spending plan.

Approved by voters last November, the levy supplements educational support services to help local children and youth succeed. Continue reading →