This Week in the Budget

On Wednesday Councilmember Bagshaw, chair of the Budget Committee, released her proposed budget balancing package.

Next Wednesday, November 14^th, the Budget Committee will vote on the proposed balancing package, and any amendments proposed by Councilmembers. Amendments to the balancing package must be balanced.

A number of items I proposed, as noted in last week’s budget update, are included the balancing package, including:

District 1 Specific Proposals (successfully included in Chair Bagshaw’s balancing package):

• Adding three inspectors to the Vacant Building Monitoring Program and passing new legislation to add “triggering events,” so that more vacant properties are monitored so that they do not become public safety problems for the neighborhood.
• Funding for South Park Public Safety Coordinator
• Funding to allow Colman Pool stay open for an additional 4 weekends a year.
• Devoting Seattle Parks Department to begin planning to enhance Trail Access on SW Brandon Street
• Adding the Highland Park Way SW/SW Holden Street Roundabout project to the SDOT Capital Improvement Program
• Adding 35^th Avenue SW road paving to the SDOT Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
• Adding the South Park Playfield to the CIP, noting $1.8 million in funding
• Adding an additional Animal Control Officer
• Move Levy spending plan stating Council’s intent to consider and approve SDOT’s revised spending plan before SDOT implements a new Move Levy Plan

Citywide proposals (successfully included in Chair Bagshaw’s balancing package):

• Enhanced oversight of capital projects
• Legacy Business Program to designate and provide resources to one Legacy Business in each of the 7 Council Districts in 2019
• Center City Streetcar require that any proposal for operations include performance measures and identify funding sources for construction to close the $60 million funding gap, a gap that could increase based on ongoing engineering analysis
• Eviction prevention
• Transgender Economic Empowerment Program
• Navigation Team proviso
• Request for encampment monitoring reports

Some items I proposed were not included in the balancing package. At the Budget Committee meeting on the 14^th, I will propose funding, and cuts elsewhere in the budget, for:

• SPD/SPU RV remediation program
• The Community Learning Center at Concord International Elementary School
• Citizenship programs at High Point
• Funding to complete Town Hall capital work

Confirmation of meetings and agenda items can be found at the Budget Committee meeting schedule. You can also sign up to receive the agendas in advance by e-mail here. Here’s a link to the Budget calendar and background on the budget process.

Seattle University Public Safety Survey

Seattle University is rolling out their 4^th annual citywide Seattle Public Safety Survey. The purpose of the survey is to solicit feedback on public safety and security concerns from those who live and/or work in Seattle. A report on the survey results will be provided to the Seattle Police Department to assist them with micro community policing plans.

The survey is accessible at publicsafetysurvey.org through November 30^th and is available in Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, English, Korean, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya and Vietnamese.

If you would like to work with a Seattle University researcher to setup outreach and assist in the facilitation of the survey to your communities or organizations, or you would like more information about the survey, please contact Taylor Lowery at lowerytaylor@seattleu.edu.

Constituent Budget Emails

I wanted to let you all know what issues I am hearing from the public. Below is a tally of the emails I have received from the public about the budget items. The shaded rows are related to D1 specific proposals.

Posted: November 9th, 2018 under Councilmember Herbold, Education, Parks and Recreation, Police Department, Seattle Public Utliities, Transportation
Tags: constituent e-mails, Proposed Budget, Seattle University Public Safety Survey