Tag Archives: Budget

News

Tosh Sharp Announces Community-Focused Campaign for Tukwila City Council

Leave a comment

by Chamidae Ford

Tosh Sharp, a civil service commissioner and Tukwila community leader, recently announced his campaign for Tukwila City Council seat one. He is currently unopposed. 

Sharp launched his campaign because of his desire to create change in Tukwila that he feels would benefit the residents of the increasingly diverse city. 

“Historically, I’ve been just a man of action,” Sharp said. “I know that sounds like a cliche, but the way that I am, when I see something that needs to be fixed, or it needs to be addressed, I kind of just do it.”

Continue reading Tosh Sharp Announces Community-Focused Campaign for Tukwila City Council →
News

Seattle City Council Considers Cutting SPD by $5.4M in Response to 2020 Overspending

Leave a comment

by Paul Kiefer

(This article originally appeared on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

The Seattle City Council’s Public Safety Committee is considering a $5.4 million cut to the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) 2021 budget to account for an equivalent amount of overspending by the department last year. During the committee’s regular meeting on Tuesday morning, councilmembers received a briefing from the council’s central staff on the potential impacts of those cuts on a department still reeling from a spike in attrition in 2020.

Continue reading Seattle City Council Considers Cutting SPD by $5.4M in Response to 2020 Overspending →
News

Inslee Announces $365 Million in Equity Budgeting for 2021

Leave a comment

by Carolyn Bick

Gov. Jay Inslee has proposed a slew of budgeting measures meant to address racial injustice across a broad swath of areas. These proposals, totaling $365 million, target everything from healthcare inequities — which the current novel coronavirus pandemic has laid bare — and environmental disparities to homelessness and even how insurance companies handle clients.

Continue reading Inslee Announces $365 Million in Equity Budgeting for 2021 →
News

City Council Members Discuss Defunding Police in 2020 Budget — but Not by 50 Percent

Leave a comment

By Chetanya Robinson

Seattle City Council members outlined specific plans for slashing the Seattle Police Department (SPD) budget in 2020 and reimagining how the city provides public safety, weeks after a veto-proof majority first committed to defunding the police by 50%.

The new proposals do not cut the department’s budget by 50% in 2020, falling short of demands from prominent community organizations after the the murder of George Floyd and city-wide demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality. 

Continue reading City Council Members Discuss Defunding Police in 2020 Budget — but Not by 50 Percent →
News

Inslee Prepared to Move Counties Back to Earlier Safe Start Phases, Mandate Mask Use

Leave a comment

by Carolyn Bick

Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee did not rule out moving counties back to earlier phases of the state’s Safe Start plan and the possibility of instituting a mask-wearing mandate, if novel coronavirus cases across the state continue to rise.

Continue reading Inslee Prepared to Move Counties Back to Earlier Safe Start Phases, Mandate Mask Use →
City Hall

OPINION: Passionate Testimony Brightens a Bleak Seattle Budget

Leave a comment

by Geov Parrish

Sept. 23, hundreds packed Seattle City Council chambers and an overflow room for their first chance to offer public testimony on Mayor Jenny Durkan’s proposed 2019-20  budget, and potential council amendments to it. Some 140 people and groups signed up to offer testimony in what turned out to be a frequently emotional four-hour marathon that hopefully left council members — at least those who weren’t looking at their phones all evening — a lot to think about. To her credit, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw chaired the hearing with a notably fairer and more restrained hand than council President Bruce Harrell employs in contentious council meetings.

Continue reading OPINION: Passionate Testimony Brightens a Bleak Seattle Budget →