Seattle Jobs Affected by New Budget

Next year's budget will result in the elimination of hundreds of Seattle jobs (Click here).

The city's upcoming 2011-2012 budget will provide funding for a number of important programs that are beneficial to local residents, but that funding will come at the expense of hundreds of city jobs. The Seattle City Council is expected to formally adopt the budget on November 22nd.

The new budget avoids broad-based tax increases and will reduce management costs by almost $3 million by 2012. However, the budget also calls for the elimination of several jobs, including about 300 government positions.

"The tentative budget adopted by the City Council today responds to the challenge of the recession and works for the people of Seattle," Council President Richard Conlin said. "This budget is balanced and sustainable. It protects public safety, expands our human services commitment and invests resources to support our neighborhoods, parks, libraries, and transportation system.

"There are still some cuts we would rather not make, but this Council has worked hard to minimize the impacts of difficult times on Seattle and to invest in our common future," he added.

Highlights of the the budget include:

• Funding to the Community Budget will restore 75 drop-in hours at five community centers; $300,000 per year to the Neighborhood Matching Fund; and save the jobs of three to six neighborhood district coordinators.
• Funding to the Human Services Budget will provide $200,000 to establish a full-time winter shelter in city hall; restore funding levels for human services-related policy advocacy and nonprofit capacity building; and restore almost $150,000 in subsidies for low-income offenders to participate in domestic violence batterer's treatment programs.
• Funding to the Public Safety Budget will preserve the Seattle Police Department Neighborhood Policing Program; restore the Crime Victim Advocates program that was slated to be cut; and provide $20,000 per year for the Safe Havens program.
• Funding for the Transportation Budget provides an additional $2.2 million per year to support critical investments; rejects a proposal to increase commercial parking tax rates; and sets the maximum hourly meter rate at $4.