SEATTLE — A sigh of relief came from Seattle’s business community when Mayor Katie Wilson released her first budget proposal with no new taxes.
Facing a $175 million deficit and a business community vocal about taxes as one factor behind some large employers relocating, Wilson said she relies on shifting the existing jumpstart payroll tax and slashing city jobs to balance the budget.
“I think it’s an important signal from the mayor and her team, again, that they understand the volatile environment that we’re in and the potential concerns with the national economy in particular and the impacts that it would have on the budgets,” said Lars Erickson, the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for the Seattle Metro Chamber.
Amazon also expressed support for the budget proposal.
Wilson proposes eliminating 128 positions across the city. All but 15 sat vacant as the Mayor crafted her budget.
The only department to grow will be Seattle Police. While the agency will lose 24 civilian positions, a 14% increase in the department’s budget ($68 million) will be enough to hire 66 new officers. Erickson says public safety is a top priority of the Chamber members and citizens who responded to its recent survey about the direction of Seattle.
“Continuing those types of investments and recognizing that it’s a priority for Seattle residents is really important,” Erickson said.
Mayor Wilson’s goal that she set at the start of her administration to create 1,000 new shelter beds to address homelessness in her first year will not be reached, as according to her proposal. Her new goal is to stand up 960 beds by the end of 2027, costing $37 million.
Co-executive director of Everyone Deserves a Home, Dan Wise, says she and her organization gave input to the Mayor’s office in crafting her budget. Wise says that it’s as much about the shelter beds as the environment around them.
“One of the things that I appreciate in talking with the mayor and city council is that recognition that some shelters need to be like ours, where they have onsite behavioral health support, you know, very low case management to client ratios. Robust 24-hour care and support and my understanding of the proposal is there are new shelters that are specifically funded with that design in mind,” Wise said.
Wise is encouraged that despite this delay, the direction of services around beds will help stabilize their pathway to housing. The mayor’s office estimates 2,000 people will be served by the nearly 1,000 beds.
“As the economy changes, as the housing market changes, as people’s service needs change, like having the nuance to see what resources do we need to add now to address street-level poverty and what should those resources look like? Like. That’s what we really need from our elected officials,” Wise said.
It wasn’t all praise for the Mayor’s proposal, especially from Seattle firefighters.
Wilson proposed $7.1 million in cuts her office described as “overtime,” but in the face of lower staffing, SFD’s Union IAFF Local 27 says the overtime is needed to meet minimum staffing levels that meet national standards.
“This budget proposal does not meet Seattle’s public safety needs. In fact, it reduces our ability to respond quickly in an emergency.” Local 27 said in a statement.
Local 27 says the budget, as is, would hurt their ability to respond to emergencies and that “people will wait longer” for a response to their 911 calls.
“It takes funding away from the fire department and forces rotating closures of fire engines, fire trucks, and fire stations.”
For the first time since 2020, the Mayor’s office’s budget closes deficits projected through 2030, and while Wilson says she may explore new revenue options in the future, “righting the ship” was her top priority.
“We cannot keep lurching from shortfall to shortfall year after year. We cannot keep kicking the can down the road because there is no more road,” Wilson said.
©2026 Cox Media Group
