Seattle – This week, Mayor Bruce Harrell signed the City of Seattle’s 2026 budget into law, totaling $8.9 billion in appropriations overall and $2.0 billion toward General Fund priorities.
Passed unanimously by the City Council last week, the final budget preserves key priorities from the mayor’s proposed budget, including record investments in affordable housing, doubling the CARE department’s community crisis responder team, increasing access to healthy, affordable foods citywide, and protecting local programs from federal funding threats. This is the first City budget to pass unanimously since 2013.
“This budget is an affirmation of Seattle’s values at a time when federal uncertainty makes local leadership more important than ever,” said Mayor Harrell. “As we see the chaos coming out of the other Washington and devastating cuts to the social safety net, Seattle is stepping up to protect local programs our residents rely on while also making the largest investment in affordable housing in our city’s history. I am grateful for the collaboration with the City Council and diligent work from Budget Chair Dan Strauss to pass a budget that makes progress on our city’s most urgent needs and puts us on a path towards a safer, more affordable, and resilient future.”
“This budget is about meeting the uncertainty so many of us feel with clear and bold investments in our shared values. We are making record-high investments in housing, affordability, and public safety while safeguarding Seattleites from federal dysfunction by making stronger investments in food programs, immigration defense, and shelter. While the federal government steps back, Seattle is stepping up to invest in a city that works for working families. Thank you, to Mayor Harrell and his staff for their partnership and bold vision that made these historic investments possible and led to the first unanimous budget in over a decade,” said Councilmember Strauss (District 6), Chair of the Select Budget Committee.
The final budget includes the renewal of the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) levy. Designed and proposed by Mayor Harrell as part of his Every Child Ready Initiative, the measure will invest $1.3 billion over six years to support youth and families, including doubling access to affordable childcare, expanding youth mental health supports in schools, and providing tuition-free college for public school graduates.
It also includes the passage of Proposition 2, providing Business and Occupation (B&O) tax relief for small- and medium-sized businesses and raising approximately $81 million in new revenue to protect essential services threatened by the Trump administration. Designed and proposed by Mayor Harrell and Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, this rewrite of Seattle’s tax code raises needed progressive revenue while reducing taxes paid by 90% of Seattle’s small and medium-sized businesses.
The budget also fully preserves and expands the City’s “Rainy Day Fund” for fiscal sustainability and to help respond to emergencies or unexpected fluctuations in revenue.
Select highlights of the 2026 budget include:
- $349.5 million investment in affordable housing, targeted at building needed affordable rental housing, housing for people exiting homelessness, and new homeownership opportunities.
- $228.5 million in homelessness response, maintaining shelter capacity and adding new investments to help people living in vehicles, including RVs, enter shelter and housing.
- $53.2 million for food investments to increase access to healthy, nutritious foods including doubling the successful Fresh Bucks program and additional funding for food banks, meal programs, and farmers markets.
- $27.6 million targeted investment plan to safeguard essential services threatened by federal funding cuts, including backfilling shelter and housing vouchers, meal-access programs, and rental assistance.
- $26 million to keep up with record-breaking police hiring, building on the over 150 officers hired so far this year, with 170 expected by the end of the year.
- $13.2 million in enhanced supports for small businesses, including the Seattle Restored program to fill vacant storefronts with new small businesses and the Back to Business program to support small businesses impacted by vandalism.
- $10.8 million for services for immigrant and refugee communities including legal supports, Know Your Rights trainings, and workforce development.
- $9.5 million to double the number of CARE Community Crisis Responders and add new dispatchers and call takers to the 911 call center.
- $7.4 million to expand the Seattle Fire Department’s (SFD) Health 99 post overdose team and add detox and residential treatment beds to help those suffering from substance use disorder.
- $3.6 million for removeable vehicle barriers at Pike Place Market and pedestrian safety infrastructure at the Seattle Center campus in advance of the FIFA World Cup games.
- $3 million to bring public safety, health, and economic revitalization efforts piloted Downtown to additional neighborhoods like Little Saigon and Lake City.
- $2.7 million to continue the redevelopment of the Green Lake Community Center and Evans Pool, renovating the 100-year-old building in one complete phase as a new state-of-the-art community hub with a new pool facility.
- $2.1 million to add 20 new firefighter recruits, totaling 100 recruits in next SFD class.
- $100,000 to develop a new tree conservation easement pilot program to incentivize tree preservation on private property.