In 2016, the City Council added money into the 2017-2018 city budget to revive the highly regarded Community Service Officer program, with a target roll-out in the second half of this year. But Mayor Durkan has delayed that plan, and suggested that her budget priorities may lie elsewhere.
Continue reading Community Service Officer program on hold, possibly on the chopping block
This morning, the Council put its finishing touches on the 2018 city budget, and this afternoon it became law.
In order to dig themselves out of their budget hole (after failing to enact an employee-hours tax), the City Council raided the Mayor’s budget today. Their additional cuts today, on top of a couple that were already in their budget, lopped over $1 million from a budget originally proposed to by $6.4 million — about a 17% cut.
(updated below)
It took some pretty chaotic sausage-making to pull it together, but the Council cobbled together a balanced budget today.
Budget Chair Lisa Herbold bet big by putting the employee-hours tax into her revised balancing package, knowing that it didn’t have majority support from her colleagues. She lost that bet today, and with that her budget plan fell apart.
Continue reading Employee-hours tax fails. 2018 budget explodes.
Monday afternoon Budget chair Lisa Herbold released her “revised balancing package” proposal for the 2018 city budget. Tuesday morning she begins to lead her fellow Council members in deliberations and votes on the items in the package.
The big contentious issue, the employee-hours tax (or “HOMES tax,” or “head tax”), is still in the package, and in fact will be the first item up for discussion and vote. It won’t be pretty.
Continue reading Revised budget “balancing package” released; showdown imminent over head tax
Yesterday the City Council spent most of the day looking at 59 proposals to further refine the proposed budget for 2018. And a few of them got heated.
This afternoon, the City Council voted 5-1 to appoint Council member Tim Burgess as Seattle’s 55th Mayor, succeeding Bruce Harrell who will return to his position as Council President and representative of the 2nd District.
Fasten your seat belt. By the end of the day Monday we may have another new Mayor, and the Council may be working an appointing a new colleague. Plus: budget work begins, the Uptown rezone wraps up, and more.
Continue reading This week in City Hall: a week like no other
(several updated incorporated below — thanks to Kirstan Arestad, Director of the Council’s Central Staff, for her helpful feedback)
In a couple of weeks the City Council will drop nearly everything and spend the next two months hammering out the 2018 city budget. Budget committee chair Tim Burgess has published a schedule for how the Council members and their staff will spend that time.