Police hiring clash, CARE funding, Cal Anderson meals, and Hollingsworth’s $2.4M family shelter push Seattle budget amendment rollout into extra day

A council proposal also would restore 14 crisis responder positions within the CARE department (Image: City of Seattle)

The Seattle City Council budget committee’s third day of “Amendment Season” agenda runs so deep they had to split it in two. Committee chair Dan Strauss announced a “bonus” fourth day of deliberations will be held Friday as the council rolls out proposed budget amendments and earmarks covering some of the city’s most critical services including the Human Services Department, the CARE Department, and the Seattle Police Department.

The agenda now leaves two days for the council to duke it out with Mayor Katie Wilson’s 2027-2028 budget proposal that would deftly address a looming $175 million budget deficit but also tap the brakes on expensive undertakings like police hiring. District 3 leader and Council President Joy Hollingsworth has signaled from the outset that she would side with critics of the mayor and oppose any cutbacks to first responders.

Here is CHS’s coverage of the first day of amendment deliberations covering the City Attorney’s office, civil rights, the Office of Housing, the Department of Neighborhoods, planning, finance, and infrastructure utility departments. Day Two coverage of proposals covering the Office of Economic Development, Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Fire Department, Office of Arts and Culture, and Seattle Parks and Recreation is here including details of a Hollingsworth-backed attempt to restore front-line emergency capacity with $7.1 million for Seattle Fire Department overtime.

Public safety and police staffing will dominate the two days with Hollingsworth putting her support behind key enforcement and oversight measures. One proposal calls for adding nearly $800,000 next year and $11.6 million in 2028 to accelerate hiring to 12 recruits per month, aiming for 135 net new officers over the biennium — and potentially unwinding the mayor’s attempts to save millions by downshifting the process.

Other amendments would restore seven senior paralegals to aid homicide and robbery detectives, fund three civilian analysts inside SPD’s Real Time Crime Center, and bring back nine parking enforcement officers by offsetting their payroll with projected citation revenues. Hollingsworth signed on as a co-sponsor to a companion item that would set aside $1 million in Finance General to incentivize the police department to fill all 18 long-standing parking enforcement vacancies rather than banking the civilian salary savings.

She also co-sponsored a measure dedicating $100,000 in SPD overtime specifically to provide security at City Council and Public Safety Committee meetings.

Council members are also introducing measures restricting $400,000 for police camera expansion until internal audit standards are met and setting a proviso on $4.1 million for crime prevention technology. Following last summer’s deadly shooting at the Bite of Seattle, Hollingsworth joined colleagues in sponsoring a request for a formal surveillance impact report on installing closed-circuit cameras at Seattle Center in time to inform the 2028 budget.

Proposals Sponsored by Joy Hollingsworth

• Family Shelter Operation: Sets aside a $2.4 million funding restriction in the Human Services Department dedicated to opening and operating a shelter for unhoused families with minor children
• Central District Youth Athletics: Allocates $100,000 in one-time General Fund support to the Central Area Parents and Coaches Association to support the CD Panthers youth football and cheerleading program
• Maternal Health Disparities: Adds $200,000 in one-time funding for Byrd Barr Place to support programming addressing racial disparities in maternal health outcomes
• Youth Mentorship and Summer Academy: Adds $200,000 in one-time support for the Atlantic Street Center’s Summer Academy after-school and behavioral health mentorship programs
• Anti-Trafficking Outreach: Earmarks $100,000 in one-time funding to support The Silent Task Force’s outreach ambassadors assisting survivors of trafficking and sexual exploitation
• Central District Breakfast Program: Appropriates $50,000 in one-time funding to support Arte Noir’s free community breakfast initiative in the Central District
• Cal Anderson Park Meal Support: Restricts $50,000 within the Human Services Department specifically for organizations like Stone Soup Crew providing hot meals and direct aid to unhoused residents in Cal Anderson Park
• Gun Violence Plan Evaluation: Requests an update report from the CARE department by March 31, 2027, detailing timelines, deliverables, metrics, and demographic trends for the Mayor’s Gun Violence Plan

For alternative emergency response, an amendment would invest $2.3 million annually to restore 14 crisis responder positions within the CARE department, while adding two dedicated non-emergency dispatchers to shorten 911 hold times.

Council members also propose $418,000 in the mayor’s office to retain a national consultant for a focused deterrence gun violence reduction strategy, alongside local funding for community violence intervention groups. City Councilmember Maritza Rivera has led a push for Seattle to adopt a gun violence intervention program in partnership with the National Network for Safe Communities research center.

In human services, council members proposed two major ongoing investments: $8 million annually for a 3% wage equity boost for contracted service workers, and another $8 million per year to expand gender-based violence response, victim advocacy, and prevention programs. Another plan would spend $3.5 million to open and operate a 90-space safe parking lot for recreational vehicles.

A proviso led by Hollingsworth would restrict $2.4 million for operating a shelter dedicated to unhoused families with minor children.

Key Proposals Co-Sponsored by Joy Hollingsworth

• Incentivizing Parking Enforcement Officer Hiring: Adds $1 million to Finance General matched by $1 million in projected Seattle Municipal Court citation revenue to push the police department to fill all 18 chronic parking enforcement officer vacancies rather than holding them open to capture $2.1 million in civilian salary savings.
• Exploring an Independent Fire Protection District and Benefit Charge: Funds a $150,000 independent study to examine legal, fiscal, and operational pathways to create a Seattle Fire Protection District, alongside an evaluation of implementing a property-based fire benefit charge to shift fire department operational funding off the General Fund.
• Expanding Funding for All City Senior Centers: Provides an ongoing General Fund addition of $750,000 in 2027 and $776,250 in 2028 across all 14 city-funded senior centers to expand congregate meals, wellness programs, and social services.
• Funding Regional Addiction Treatment Beds: Earmarks $750,000 in one-time General Fund resources for on-demand residential and intensive outpatient substance use treatment at regional facilities such as Lakeside-Milam.
• Erasing $9.2 Million in Patient Medical Debt: Appropriates $350,000 in one-time funding to partner with Undue Medical Debt to purchase and eliminate at least $9.2 million in qualifying healthcare debt for local residents.
• Seattle Center Campus Revitalization Bond Roadmap: Directs the Mayor’s Office to transmit a formal schedule and transmittal package by early 2027 to place a Seattle Center capital bond measure on either the August or November 2027 ballot.
• Oversight and Accountability of Encampment Cleanups: Establishes required quarterly reporting on the Unified Care Team’s activities, including district-by-district data on customer complaints, active encampment counts, outreach contacts, shelter referrals, and remediation outcomes.

Targeted community grants and neighborhood facility investments are also on the table. Proposals earmark $1 million for El Centro de la Raza to purchase ground-floor space at a Beacon Hill development, $800,000 for renovations at the Ballard Food Bank Annex, $350,000 to erase an estimated $9.2 million in local medical debt, and $750,000 for on-demand addiction treatment. District-level food aid amendments include dollars for mobile food delivery at Magnuson Park, hot meals in Ballard, meals in Cal Anderson Park, and a youth breakfast program in the Central District.

Structural fiscal proposals round out the final amendments. Councilmembers introduced an ordinance establishing a dedicated fund to recapture an estimated $13.1 million mistakenly paid out during an SPD retroactive wage calculation error, legally dedicating any recovered funds to affordable housing.

The amendments include the push from citywide Councilmember Dionne Foster that would permanently require future mayoral budgets to avoid deficits and present balanced six-year outlooks for the General Fund and JumpStart payroll tax reserves, while binding the council to offset any ongoing spending additions with matching revenues.

The Select Budget Committee concludes its initial amendment review ahead of the release of the chair’s balancing package next week.

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