Mayor Harrell Announces 2025-2026 Budget Proposal

Mayor proposes budget to close $250 million deficit, focuses on comprehensive approach to public safety, record investments in affordable housing and maintaining effective public services

Seattle – Mayor Bruce Harrell today announced his 2025-2026 budget proposal, with investments that reflect his continued commitment to building a safe, fair and thriving community. One SeattleWith the city facing a $250 million deficit, the proposal presents a balanced budget after a thorough review of current spending and investments in pressing priorities, including improving public safety, addressing affordable housing and homelessness, building thriving, healthy communities, and continuing a strong economic recovery that boosts small businesses.

“It is my duty as mayor to ensure that the city spends every dollar we have in a responsible, efficient and effective manner to meet the needs of Seattle’s communities,” said Mayor Harrell. “This year has been both a challenge and an opportunity to rigorously review and rebuild our budget, optimizing our spending to align with the biggest priorities for our city, like delivering effective public safety for every neighborhood, advancing health-focused approaches to save lives and combat the opioid crisis, and building more affordable housing to address the core affordability challenges. This proposal will spur further progress without sacrificing the essential city services that residents rely on, like libraries and community centers; youth programs and parks; and critical infrastructure. With a strong foundation rooted in our One Seattle “With our values, this budget proposal represents an important step in putting our city on a better financial path.”

READ: Mayor Harrell’s Budget Speech As Prepared

WATCH: Mayor Harrell delivers budget speech

DISCOVER: Budget overview and full proposed budget

Proposed budget investments

The proposed budget includes approximately $8.3 billion in total appropriations, including $1.9 billion in the General Fund. Within the General Fund, the budget proposal includes $916 million for public safety services; $264 million for education and human services; $145 million for arts, culture and recreation; $91 million for utilities, transportation and the environment; and $57 million for livable and inclusive communities.

Mayor Harrell’s proposal also includes a $342 million investment in support of affordable housing by 2025 and another $343 million in 2026. These are the largest investments in affordable housing in Seattle’s history, building on the significant investments in housing during his tenure as mayor.

Learn more about selected proposed investments, organized by category: Public safety | Public health | Housing and homelessness | Thriving communities

Additional investment highlights in the 2025-26 budget proposal include:

• $3.2 million to keep open 300 shelter beds that were previously funded by one-time federal investments and would otherwise have closed.

• $1.9 million to add 23 new positions to the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) department, expanding services citywide, seven days a week.

• $19.25 million for Seattle Youth Mental Health and Safety, continuing the investment strategy announced at the start of the 2024-25 school year and building on the $12.5 million in ongoing investments in youth through the Department of Human Services.

• $7.4 million in supporting small businesses, including activating vacant retail space and supporting access to capital.

• $28 million for the Equitable Development Initiative to prevent displacement and support property ownership and capacity building in community-based organizations.

• $1.2 million to more than double the number of automated school zone cameras in 19 school zones to tackle dangerous speeding and ensure student safety.

• $3.1 million to establish a Real Time Crime Center to use technology to sort and coordinate emergency response efforts and to hire civilian staff to support sworn officers.

• $2.7 million to add firefighters and paramedics in training to the Seattle Fire Department.

• $2.3 million to extend the Unified Care Team’s hours of operation so that the team can focus on areas where camps are most common, keeping public spaces accessible and inviting.

• $2 million to improve support services for victims of commercial sexual exploitation on Aurora Avenue and throughout the city.

• $500,000 to demolish and remediate dangerous vacant buildings, in support of legislation Mayor Harrell introduced this year to reduce fires and other hazards.

• $350,000 for an additional environmental impact statement in support of the One Seattle Plan and identifying new housing opportunities in places where population density has already increased, such as regional centers.

Closing the gap

The mayor’s proposed budget closes the city’s $250 million General Fund deficit while maintaining strong public services and investing in forward-looking priorities through several strategies. In addition to early measures such as a hiring freeze and spending reductions that include efficiency improvements and some layoffs, the proposed budget uses revenue from the Payroll Expense Tax to bolster the General Fund, as the city has done every year since its introduction.

Payroll Expense Tax revenues have doubled since its enactment, allowing the proposed budget to both support General Fund services and invest in Payroll Expense Tax spending categories near their originally projected rates. The proposed budget invests $287 million in Payroll Expense Tax revenues to support the General Fund, $233 million in Payroll Expense Tax categories, and $43 million to create a new Payroll Expense Tax reserve to give the revenue source greater fiscal stability.

Next steps

The City Council’s deliberations on the proposed budget will begin tomorrow, September 25, at 9:30 a.m. with an overview of the technical details of the mayor’s budget by Interim City Budget Director Dan Eder to the Select Budget Committee. A series of presentations from City and Council staff will follow over the next two months, with public hearings on the budget taking place on Wednesday, October 16 and Tuesday, November 12. The Council currently plans to hold a final vote on the 2025 budget on November 21.