Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell releases $7.8B city budget proposal

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell prioritizes increased spending for affordable housing and homelessness, drug treatment, first responders and Downtown recovery in his proposed $7.8 billion 2024 budget released on Tuesday.

“When you have a good hand and a plan that’s working, you double down,” said Harrell in a speech Tuesday. “And that’s what this budget proposal does – it doubles down on the priorities that matter for the city and it invests in a better tomorrow for Seattle.”

His proposal is an update to the 2023-2024 budget adopted by the City Council in November 2022, as Seattle operates on a two-year biennial budget. It offers minor adjustments more than wholesale changes and will now go before the Seattle City Council.

Harrell’s proposal includes spending an additional $334 million on affordable-housing construction and operations, a 32% increase over the 2023 budget and a new high-water mark for Seattle’s spending on subsidized, income-restricted housing.

https://crosscut.com/politics/2023/09/seattle-mayor-bruce-harrell-releases-78b-city-budget-proposal