Contents

• This Week in the Budget
• Time to Vote for Participatory Budgeting Projects
• Domestic Violence Awareness Proclamation for October

This Week in the Budget

Several of my priorities were included in Budget Chair Mosqueda’s Balanced Budget package, announced today.  I appreciate working with her on our common priorities.

At the Select Budget Committee on Friday the 20^th  Budget Chair Mosqueda released the Chair’s 2024 Balancing Package that will serve as the baseline for any amendments. Here’s a presentation, and the details and a summary of key investments.

My recommendations, supported by Budget Chair Mosqueda’s Balanced Budget package include:

• Seattle Community Safety Initiative (SCSI) mental health supports for workers doing violence prevention and violence interruption work at safety hubs focused in Southwest Seattle, Rainer Valley, and the Central District
• Full funding through 2024 for the Harborview Bedside Gun Violence Interrupter program
• Funding for implementation of the App-Based Worker Deactivations Rights Ordinance and Minimum Compensation Ordinance
• Inflationary increases for Continuum of Care contracts funding homelessness services and applies an updated calculation on all human service contracts to ensure that this funding for wages is sustainable into future years.

The Chair’s 2024 Mid-Biennium Balancing Package prioritizes accountability, sustainability, and equity by maintaining the City’s focus on investing in our most vulnerable, rejecting austerity, and ensuring vital JumpStart revenue is targeted at growing the health of our economy and community through housing, economic resilience, Green New Deal and equitable development. This package maintains and builds upon the adopted 2023-2024 biennial budget that prioritizes keeping our community cared for & housed, connected & resilient, and healthy & safe.

The Council met this week as the Select Budget Committee to consider the 2024 City of Seattle budget, including a series of briefings on JumpStart Outcomes across several areas.

DESC and SEIU Report on Workforce Wages

Presentation – JumpStart Seattle (added; 10/16/23)

Presentation – Plymouth Housing and JumpStart (added; 10/16/23)

Presentation – DESC-SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW Labor-Management Partnership (added; 10/16/23)

Presentation – Four Amigos Beloved Community (added; 10/16/23)

Presentation – Green New Deal 2024 Proposed Budget (added; 10/16/23)

Presentation – Housing Development Consortium (added; 10/16/23)

On Wednesday the 18^th, the Select Budget Committee also held the first public hearing on the 2024 budget; the second hearing will be on Monday, November 13^th at 5 p.m.

Councilmember amendments to the balancing package are due by noon on Tuesday the 24^th. The amendments will be presented in the Select Budget Committee on Friday the 27^th.

Amendments must be self-balancing, so any new spending must be balanced by a corresponding reduction. Amendments with two co-sponsors will be developed by Council Central Staff and presented on the 27^th. Due to the short timeline, amendments without co-sponsors will be shared at the meeting, and if two Councilmember raise their hands, Central Staff will develop the amendment.

Amendments are scheduled for votes at committee meetings from November 13^th to 15^th.

Time to Vote for Participatory Budgeting Projects

The community-driven investments the the Seattle CIty Council made following the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent racial reckoning in 2020 are coming to you!  You can help decide which community developed proposals will secure support to qualify for the available $27.25 million investment.  After a community engagement process to bring about potential investments, voting on participatory budgeting proposals is now live through November 12, 2023, investing $27.25 million back into our neighborhoods.

Voting is both available online at PBSeattle.org and at in-person events through November 12th. You can vote on 18 proposals addressing 5 investment areas: Mental Health, Crisis & Wellness, Housing & Physical Space, Economic Development, and Youth & Children. To qualify to vote, community members must live, work, or play in Seattle and be at least 15 years old.

Use this link to vote:  https://pbseattle.org/

Domestic Violence Awareness Proclamation for October

Last week the Council issued a proclamation that I sponsored declaring October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Seattle.

As this proclamation notes, domestic violence is truly a public health issue with long term negative effects on both physical health, mortality, and mental health that can negatively affect child and youth development.

I’d like to share for the viewing public that a call to the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE) or local King County DV Hopeline (206-737-0242) can help put a person on a path to safety. If you are worried about someone in your life, the most important thing you can do is listen, tell them you believe them, and offer to support them in whatever way they need.

I’d also like to recognize that the City invests in strategies to prevent, intervene, and hold offenders accountable while promoting healing, services, and community support for those impacted by domestic violence by partnering with more than 35 organizations to provide services to more than 10,000 survivors and their families each year.

I appreciate that our City remains committed to supporting survivors.

Posted: October 20th, 2023 under Councilmember Herbold