Select Budget Committee 10/8/25

Good afternoon.

The October 8th, 2025 Select Budget Committee meeting will come due order.

It is 2 p.m.

I'm Dan Strauss, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Rivera.

Council Member Sanka.

Council Member Solomon.

Here.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Here.

Council Member Juarez.

Here.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Council President Nelson.

Council Member Rink.

Present.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

And Chair Strauss.

Present.

Eight to present.

Thank you, and Council Member Rivera is excused until she attends.

Got the Mariners game going on right now, which is why I'm wearing this hat.

It's unfortunately tied at the top of the sixth.

With that, moving into, we have one item on today's agenda with a potential vote on the proposed 0.1% sales tax to fund public safety programs.

Before we begin, if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

We'll now move into the hybrid public comment period.

Just noting with the public hearing last week, we're definitely gonna make some changes between now and the next one to extend the time a little bit.

I will say that we over-indexed with how much participation we expected.

I will also say that it is the least attended public hearing I've ever seen in all of my years around here.

So we don't want to over-index either which way, but we will be making some adjustments before the next public hearing.

With that said, we will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda and within the purview of the select committee.

We have currently one, two, three, four, five, six, seven in person and checking on line, 13 on lines for a total of 20. So we are going to, as by the rules that I put forward at the beginning, of this committee, we will use the formula to make it consistent and predictable for those participating.

If there are 30 or fewer people signed up, each person will receive two minutes.

If there are between 30 and 60 people, folks will receive one minute.

If there's more than 60 people signed up, the chair will determine the appropriate length of time.

Councilmember Rivera is present.

With that said, today folks will have two minutes.

If you need to speak less, it's okay to speak less.

And speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

I will start with the in-person speakers first and then go online.

When you hear the chime, that means you have 10 seconds left Speakers, microphones will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time.

So the public comment period is now open.

We have Sam Wolf, Simone Walcott, Brandy Flood, Christopher Archiepoli, Michelle Mick, Osma and Kyle.

With that, come on up.

And if you're on deck, just be ready to go.

And as you heard last night, you can move that microphone around.

Just make sure it's close to your mouth.

With that, good afternoon, Sam.

Good afternoon, council.

Hello again.

My name's Sam Wolf.

My role is the Seattle Lead Program Director In 2023, LEED was identified by the council, the mayor's office, and by SPD policy as the default response for violations of the public use ordinance.

Because of that, 75% of encounters by SPD for public use were referred to LEED case management services and subsequent recovery services.

Despite this, LEED's budget has decreased in the last three years.

With the proposed add from the sales tax, LEED will be restored to essentially the level of city funding in 2022, plus an increase commensurate to these additional public use referrals.

While recent years saw LEAD's budget decrease, LEAD's efficacy has been acknowledged and replicated elsewhere in the state and the country.

This year, the National Office of Drug Control Policy named LEAD as a preferred strategy.

In 2021 and 2023, the Washington state legislator named LEAD as the preferred strategy for pre-booking diversion statewide.

In 2022, the King County Auditor found LEAD to be a program that is rigorously evaluated and collecting data and using that data to improve program performance.

We cannot afford to allow this evidence-backed framework to be neglected here at home in Seattle.

With the proposed add in the mayor's budget, LEED will be back on track to be able to take high-priority referrals citywide.

This is critical for our work not only with SPD and law enforcement, but with community partners throughout the entire city.

Without this funding, we will need to reduce the scope of referrals we receive and the projects that we support.

And in some scenarios, we may even need to discharge current clients.

This work is critical to the city's ability to end cycles of harm to both participants and to communities.

And I ask and urge council to support the lead add in the mayor's proposed budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next is Simone followed by Brandy and then Christopher.

Simone, welcome.

Good afternoon.

Hi, thank you.

Oh, there we go.

So good afternoon, council members.

My name is Simone Walcott, and I'm a senior LEED project manager.

LEED is a force multiplier for other city investments, like the ambassador teams, like We Deliver Care, the Downtown Seattle Association, and the CIDBIA ambassadors.

It's also effective at increasing the effectiveness of additional services, like Lakeside Milam and Valley Cities.

We're seeing promising collaboration in places like the CID and the Downtown Commercial District with our Third Avenue project partners.

LEAD brings something unique to the ecosystem, and that's long-term intensive case management.

It's the piece that helps people with the highest barriers make use of the resources around them.

A really great example of this is the recent collaborative effort, its low-barrier approach with the Seattle Fire Department, Harborview's Downtown Clinics, the Orca Center, REACH, CoLead, and WeDeliverCare.

This clinic enabled 33 people to access long-acting injectable medication to treat opioid use disorder.

This pilot project seems to be really resonating with the participants as they're already buzzing about it and talking positively about it amongst their community.

Notably, some of the individuals who accessed this treatment pop-up clinics were also working with lead case managers, and this highlights how lead case managers are effective at connecting folks to community resources.

Our 2025 quarter two evaluation shows lead facilitated 1,486 connections to substance use disorder treatment during the first half of this year.

This report will be on our website soon, but you can also look at our previous evaluations on our website as well.

And I'm sure as you all know, addiction does not exist in a vacuum.

Many of the people we work with are also dealing with housing instability, mental health, poverty, criminal legal system involvement, amongst other things.

And that's why LEAD takes that holistic approach and makes long-term individualized plans to help support people in improving their overall quality of life, not just addressing substance use issues.

An evaluation by UW found that 18 months after enrolling in LEED, participants were 89% more likely to obtain permanent housing, 46% more likely to be on the employment continuum, and 33% more likely

Thank you.

Up next is Brandy, followed by Christopher and Michelle.

Brandy, welcome.

Thank you for being ready.

Thank you, thank you for having me.

Hello, my name is Brandy Flood.

I'm the Director of Community Justice for Evergreen Treatment Services, the REACH Program.

We're one of the largest treatment opiate organizations here in Seattle, moving people out of the streets and into recovery.

So I wanna first start off by just thanking you guys by your continued support and your salary, 2% salary increase that you gave to homeless service workers and housing workers in the city that helps us connect people to shelter and housing.

And I hope that, I know you guys have a lot of things to manage, but I hope that we're able to, with even the federal cuts, still be able to keep shelters and housing available our team works on the street every day, we're very complex people, we need safe places for people to move on to.

So I'm here to also just say, we're one of the longest standing, we're the first providers, service providers for LEAD program, the longest standing provider.

And so I know you guys know this, but I just wanna reiterate why long term case management works.

you need to be able to walk through people through their care, their continuum of care, making sustainable connections, not quick ones, sustainable connections through their legal issues, through their housing issues, through their healthcare issues.

And so you can't do that with one touch.

You have to do that with people who are gonna walk alongside of them the whole way so you could have a sustainable change.

This is why LEAD has had so many great outcomes with our lead participants because of that long-term change.

We're able to navigate all those systems with them and really build relationships in the community with our lead partners.

And so, for instance, in Rainier Beach, we've been able to work with the Rainier Beach Safeway, Columbia City Bakery and all those things.

And when we had a situation where one of our very complex folks was really sick, young African-American woman struggling with substance use and a major major health issue, They were able to call us and not the police and not the paramedics to come and work with her, get her connected and actually get her to surgery and connect her to housing.

That happens from long-term case management.

That happens with building relationships with your neighborhoods and law enforcement to make that happen.

That doesn't happen.

Thank you Brandy.

Up next is Christopher followed by Michelle and Osma.

Thank you, councilmembers.

My name is Christopher Archipoli.

I'm a senior project manager with the Seattle LEAD program and a resident of Seattle's third city council district, here today commenting in support of the proposed public safety sales tax and asking that $5 million be used to restore LEAD's funding.

LEAD is an unlikely alliance.

Law enforcement and prosecutors and social service workers collaborating in a way that makes a difference.

On paper it shouldn't work, but it does.

A 2019 study by the University of Washington showed lead participants outperforming a comparison group in every category measured.

Jail bookings down 38% versus an increase of 67%.

Days in jail down 30% versus an increase of 111%.

Prison incarceration down 71% versus an increase of 114%.

Number of misdemeanors, down 22% versus no change.

Number of felonies, down 19% versus an increase of 166%.

A $2,100 decrease in cost to the legal system versus an increase of 5,961.

Dozens of gold standard evaluations and hundreds of success stories exist to prove LEED's positive impact on public safety and order in Seattle.

There's a reason LEED has been replicated in 24 states, as well as South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Low and middle income Americans are facing a looming health care crisis as next year's changes to federal policy will cause an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 King County residents to lose Medicaid.

LEAD is one of the few stopgaps capable of ensuring this doesn't happen.

Having access to the comprehensive long-term case management LEAD provides will allow our participants to successfully navigate administrative hurdles that would otherwise have a devastating impact on their health outcomes and the public safety of the city as a whole.

I urge the Seattle City Council to be a leader in supporting programs that support and uplift those who are most vulnerable.

Please restore LEED's funding through the passage of the Public Safety Sales Tax.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

Up next is Michelle followed by Osma and then Kyle.

I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing names here.

Anytime you're ready, take it away.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Michelle McClendon, and I am also one of the LEAD project managers, and I'm excited to be a project manager for the East and the South Precinct.

I wanted to state that LEAD is a critical component to the city's policy response to public drug use, but our collaboration with SPD goes well beyond simply receiving referrals.

In the East Precinct, for example, we meet monthly with SPD to discuss priority individuals, an approach that makes us more than the sum of our parts.

A recent example from the East Precinct highlights the unique strength of this partnership, a story that I would like to share with SPD collaboration.

There was an individual who was considered high priority in the Capitol Hill, Cal Anderson area, which is a high priority for our case managers as well as SPD.

I received a phone call late in the evening hours from SPD letting me know, informing me that the individual that was considered a high priority and someone that we were looking for to complete an intake with was actually at the precinct asking for lead.

The lieutenant stayed with the individual and we were able to respond to that individual and the officer within 15 minutes.

Therefore, that intake was able to be completed, that individual was given supplies as well as other resources and provided with next steps.

with LEAD's ability to work closely with law enforcement and other partners depend on long-term trust-based relationships.

This collaboration is built on trust and LEAD's unique program design.

Without the five million and continued funding, LEAD would have to significantly limit referrals and reduce the number of clients we can serve.

That means fewer people will benefit from the kind-effective trust-based collaboration and the changing lives in our communities and the city needs this approach now more than ever.

It's something that is very much worth investing in.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next is, and am I saying it right?

Osamu.

Osama?

Yes, Osama.

And then Kyle.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Osamu, I am a lead case manager.

I am a resident in Rainier Beach.

My area for my work includes the Little Saigon.

Today I wanted to just tell you about one of my clients.

He'd been on the streets, well, in the jungle area, under the highway, then on the streets in Chinatown for about seven years until last year.

He'd been housed at a building and he hears voices, he experiences what he characterized as divine intervention.

It makes it really hard for him to tell the reality from what his voice is saying.

Because of that, he's isolated.

He's unable to trust a resident.

He's unable to trust case managers on site.

Yesterday, something wonderful happened yesterday.

VA case manager and I were able to sit down for about an hour validating his concerns, his anxiety, the voices he was hearing and he opened up and and decided to prioritize his stability, paying the rent and staying where he's at.

And so I wanted to show you, we continue to work with that, validate who they are so they can live with dignity.

Thank you.

And up next we have Kyle and then we will transfer on to online public commenters.

The only public commenters online who are not present are Devin Mekut, Will Hirsch and John Ehrenfeld.

So if folks know any of those friends, let them know that they're on deck and not present yet.

With that, welcome Kyle.

Good afternoon.

Hi, I'm Kyle from District 5. I apologize as I'm new to civic engagement and I've now realized my statement might have been better off in yesterday's meeting as it's about the more general budget conversation.

I have not been homeless, but last year I got really, really close.

I lost my income, broke my foot, and injured my eye.

I couldn't work, couldn't see, couldn't walk, and it was just luck and privilege that kept me off the streets.

Just that glimpse of true poverty nearly drove me nuts, and what I learned from that time was that the more desperate you are, the less things like consequences factor into your decision making.

Survival always takes priority, and desperation makes everything about survival.

In my view, the best way to help public safety is to minimize desperation.

Taking care of our citizens' basic material needs will minimize crime far more than the threat of punishment will.

So I'm supporting the Seattle solidarity budget, and I'm hoping that you will help prioritize helping people over wielding power.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Kyle.

We're gonna now transfer into online public commenters.

I'll read everyone's name and it looks like Will Hirsch is present, but he's just signed up twice.

And so I'll read the names and then give you a game update.

So we've got Josh Garcia, Will Hirsch, Hallie Willis, Dennis Perez-Lally, Angel Guevara, Danielle Hammond, David Haynes, Brandy McNeil, Yvonne Nelson, Crystal Erickson, John Ehrenfeld.

Everyone is present except for Devin Maycutt.

And with that, we will transfer in and game update, bad news here.

The other team has scored two runs and so we are now down three to five.

Bottom of the sixth.

So with that, Josh Garcia, welcome.

I see you're here, star six to unmute.

You're off mute.

Welcome.

Hello, hello.

My name is Josh Garcia.

I work within the LEAD program in Evergreen Treatment Services for almost four years.

I just first want to thank the City Council for supporting LEAD funding as outlined in the mayor's proposed budget.

Second, I just wanted to highlight LEAD's success with my personal experience working with some folks, a 25-year-old queer man I had struggling with a language barrier, we helped navigate through Seattle Municipal Court.

This gentleman feared the court system but braved it with the support of his case management and lead advocates.

Every time we entered the court, his hands would sweat profusely and he would physically start shaking because of his language barrier and the implications of being in trouble with the law.

Ultimately, his case was dismissed with prejudice and he had moved to be a productive Seattleite He has a Washington State ID.

He has just recently started working and is pursuing his visa to further make himself this his home.

This is not an isolated incident, but one that would support and that can be and has been duplicated as you will hear from my other colleagues that are on the line.

I'm very excited to be a part of this and just want to say thank you so much to be heard in this room.

Go Sounders.

I mean, oh my God.

Go Mariners.

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you, Josh.

And up next we have Will Hirsch, who I see has been promoted.

Will, star six to unmute.

Will, you're off mute.

Take it away at your convenience.

Hello, Council.

Thank you so much for having me today.

My name is Will Hirsch.

I work for the LEAD program as a legal system advocate and I've been working with this program for close to four years now.

First off, I'd like to thank the Council for supporting the funding that's outlined in the Mayor's proposed budget and to also thank you for giving us the opportunity and time to provide some of the stories and some information about what is special about the LEAD program.

So I came to Washington State about four years ago, specifically to join the LEAD program.

I was very impressed with the client-centered care and harm reduction approach that the LEAD program promoted.

I've been very interested in working with the population that the LEAD program supports, and I've seen what is really special about it since coming here.

I have worked with clients both as a case manager and a street outreach worker, and now as a legal system advocate.

and have gotten to know many clients in my time working here.

I have seen time and time again how clients have tried to make significant changes for themselves but have had significant difficulty in maintaining those changes over time.

One of the things that I think is so special about the LEAD program is our ability to provide a connecting thread for clients and to walk with them as they go through these large changes.

I've done things as a case manager such as help clients to go all the way up to places as far as Monroe in order to attend detox and then come back to the City of Seattle in order to enroll in drug court to attend intensive outpatient services and to get connected to housing.

And throughout all of these changes, clients often have many different providers and it can be very disorienting, very challenging for them to maintain any sense of consistency as they make these changes.

I love that our program supports clients, meets them where they are at and walks through their struggles with them.

and helps provide that consistency as they return to the community from custody or from treatment.

I love that this program can give them something to lean on as they try to make these changes.

Counsel, thank you so much for your time and for letting us provide.

Thank you, Will.

Up next is Hallie Willis followed by Denise or Dennis and Angel.

Hallie, you're off mute.

Take it away, welcome.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Hallie Willis, and I'm the policy manager at the Coalition on Homelessness.

I'm a member of the Seattle Human Services Coalition, and I live in District 5. I'm commenting today on the public safety sales tax.

Our community is safer when everyone can meet their basic needs.

And I want to highlight how important it is that the public safety sales tax funding should be used to prevent interactions with the criminal justice system by supporting solutions to homelessness, domestic violence, behavioral health, and more.

These essential services are needed now more than ever as we face the imminent threat of massive federal housing cuts and the loss of federal funds for SNAP, Medicaid, and more that Seattle residents depend on.

Please allocate a significant portion of this new tax to batten down the hatches on housing, shelter, and human services that we have and ensure that this tax benefits the low-income people who will be hardest hit by a sales tax increase.

This community needs to leverage this sales tax and all other local revenue sources to protect our own.

There are tough choices ahead and we look forward to working with you throughout this budget season.

Thank you.

Thank you, and my apologies for the next speaker.

If it's Denise or Dennis, it is my fault for not pronouncing your name better.

I see you're here, so star six to unmute.

See, star Denise or Dennis, my apologies for not pronouncing correctly.

Star six to unmute.

Thank you Councilmember Strauss and good afternoon Councilmembers.

My name is Denise Perez Lawley and I want to start by thanking you for prioritizing the public safety sales tax and for recognizing that how we approach public safety matters just as much as the goal itself.

As the co-program director for CoLead, I believe this Council is looking in the right place for better integration of public health and human services within our public safety response.

That's where true change happens.

Coley does what first responders cannot do.

We stay with people for the long journey.

We walk alongside individuals who've lived through years, even decades of trauma, supporting them as they move from surviving to healing and ultimately to thriving.

Last night, several Coley participants spoke before you and shared how this program has changed their lives.

Brett lived on the streets for years, entered CoLead, completed treatment, and now his community college played soccer and rebuilding his life.

Dominic shared that CoLead gave him a second chance, a safe place to sleep, free from the violence he once knew, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Another participant shared that after entering CoLead was a serious medical issue, They now receive care from a provider who treats them with dignity, something they said they've never experienced before.

These stories remind us what happens when care replaces punishment, when community replaces isolation, and when we believe in people's capacity to heal.

Thank you, council members, for your continued partnership and for supporting LEAD and co-LEAD as we help our individuals find safety, recovery, and a place to call home.

Thank you, Denise.

Up next, we have Angel Guevara, Devin Maycott, and Danielle Hammond.

Angel, I see you're here.

Star six to unmute.

I see you're on mute.

Take it away whenever you're ready.

Welcome.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, council members, and thank you for your time today.

I wanted to thank you all first and foremost for supporting LEAD funding as outlined in the mayor's proposed budget and acknowledged that doing so is really instrumental in continuing the great work our offices are doing within our communities, and we're excited to continue the work with community partners.

I wanted to take the time I had with you all to illustrate just how effective the long-term intensive case management model that LEAD utilizes can be on our clients.

I've been with LEAD for about a year as a supervisor, and I reflect on my experiences over the last year and think of one client in particular, and we'll call him John for the purpose of telling his story.

John's a client I was able to engage with when he was first referred to the LEAD program, When Don came into our office on Aurora Avenue, he was terrified to speak with anyone, spoke in a low-toned voice, and found it difficult to make eye contact with anyone because of the things he had experienced while he was unhoused.

With time, he became more trusting of me and his assigned case manager, speaking more and more, and eventually just coming in to see how we were doing and began asking for supplies he was lacking in a more confident way.

As trust and rapport started to develop on his terms, he became more comfortable disclosing he wanted to begin seeking mental health services through Navos and wanted to manage his substance use to improve his mental health and begin seeking housing resources through our office.

Since his case manager has been working with him, he's began working with Navos mental health services.

He's had an intake at an emergency shelter and has had a referral for a housing unit as of this week, all while working on his legal goals.

John frequently shares how the long-term support and services we provided him have allowed him to get to where he wants to be.

acknowledging that he still has a long way to go, but feel confident that he can continue to achieve his goals with the support that the LEAD program offers him.

Often when clients have a minor or major setback in their journey, the first thing they say is that they feel shame or ask their case managers if they're upset with them for not following through or failing on them, showing that the relationship that they felt is sincere and that the work that we do is not taken for granted.

Thank you so much for taking this

Thank you, Angel.

Up next is Devon, followed by Danielle and then David Haynes.

Devon, I see you've been promoted.

Welcome.

Star six to unmute.

There you are.

At your convenience, take it away.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Strauss.

And thank you to the whole council for having us today.

The team has really come out.

It's been really incredible to hear the stories that have been shared so far.

My name is Devin Mykitt and I work at the LEAD program at REACH at Evergreen Treatment Services.

I've actually had the chance to be on our team at Evergreen since 2014. I thought I was just going to come work here for a short time and now for the last four years I've actually had the opportunity to manage our LEAD program and to make sure that we're best stewarding operations and best practices and staffing for all 1,200 of our enrolled lead clients in our program here at REACH.

So it's been a real honor.

I want to just uplift the stories that have been shared today about how long-term person-centered case management really is critical for public safety and to increase public health outcomes for the hardest to serve individuals in our city The stories that Angel and Josh told, that Osamu spoke to, that Will shared, speak to me about the uniqueness of a program like ours.

And I want to thank the Council for supporting the LEAD budget as outlined in the Mayor's proposal that would allow us to bring our program back to scale.

Thank you, Sam and Christopher and Simone for highlighting how despite how well loved and respected this program is.

Our budget has not met our needs for the last couple of years.

So it's exciting to think about being able to bring our community work back to scale.

Thank you for investing in an intervention that is research proven and that really serves the hardest to serve in our community in a collaborative way.

So thank you so much for having me today.

Thank you, Devon.

Following Devon is Danielle Hammond, David Haynes, and then Brandy McNeil.

Danielle, you're already off mute.

Welcome, take it away at your convenience.

Thanks.

My name is Danielle Hammond, and I'm a screening and outreach coordinator at the Reach and Lead Program, and I'm based out of the Belltown office.

I grew up outside of Seattle, and I now live in the East Lake neighborhood.

I've worked in social work in Seattle for about six years, In my role currently, I respond to calls from SPD officers who make referrals to lead.

We respond to calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including bank holidays.

Officers can make two kinds of referrals to lead.

Officers can choose to make a referral that will divert a misdemeanor charge called an arrest diversion, or they can make a social contact referral which doesn't require an arrest.

Both pathways allow the officer to decide if the individual could benefit from intensive case management.

After a referral is made during a phone call, I then travel to the officer and the individual and work to get them started with the program if they're interested.

The other part of my role is outreaching people in the streets and the jails and the hospitals who have lead referrals.

While outreaching, I also assess if individuals I encounter might benefit from lead and work closely with PDA and we deliver care to determine the next steps.

When I started working with one of my clients in the spring of 2023, he had warrants and legal obligations out of Seattle, Redmond, Kirkland, Linwood, Bellevue, and King County District Court and Snohomish.

I got to walk with him on completed inpatient treatment with the help of a medication called Suboxone, tackle his legal cases strategically, get a full-time job, graduate DOSA, become the house manager at his sober living, move out of his sober living into a sober house, move out of that spot and into an apartment of his own, and worked to regain custody of his six-year-old son.

This individual got a lead referral in May of 2020 and didn't get enrolled until October of 2020. He didn't go into treatment until spring of 2023. Behavior change takes time.

It's easier to make that choice to change if you know there are people who can help you navigate the systems whenever you're ready.

Reach and Lead has a positive reputation amongst people who are substance-using, homeless, and legally involved.

Us due to our commitment to long-term, gray area, trauma-informed, individualized, creative, culturally-informed support.

Thank you.

Thank you, Danielle.

Up next is David Haynes.

Mr. Haynes, welcome.

I see you have been promoted, star six to unmute.

I see you're off mute.

Take it away at your convenience.

Good afternoon.

All right, thank you.

How much does the executives of LEAD make who don't do the outreach?

Because it seems like there's a lot of outreach that wants to skim off of self-destructives.

And I bring this up because how many capacity units of housing and hotels that the repeat offenders from LEED get before innocent, houseless citizens who've been racistly discriminated by the outreach case managers looking for self-destructive, more profitable, less accountable individuals who they skim off of and their half-hearted efforts.

We need like a trespass for all the LEED recipients who start their path in an authorized encampment if they're bothering people in the business community.

They should not be the first ones to get housing when there's all these innocent houses who are not bothering people.

And also, is this the public safety tax that has to do with copycat in Boston and Baltimore, where you're going to claim that non-profits politically connected to community safety and gun violence prevention are going to quell the gun shooting by literally using tax dollars to pay gun-toting criminal gang members who are rivaling against other gang members who shot one of their members.

And as long as that person doesn't retaliate, they get paid to relocate.

And if they're going around causing trouble, they're literally paid two months' rent and given free food as long as they promise not to go rob somebody.

This is coming out of the public safety pack that you all are supposed to be discussing that doesn't have any of the details because we have an ignoble director when it comes to the budget, the central, excuse me, I didn't mean the budget, I meant the budget director and the central staff that seems to be coached on only offering generalities to the spending priorities that haven't exactly been established Thank you, Mr. Haynes.

Up next is Brandy McNeil, followed by Yvonne Nelson, Crystal Erickson, and finally John Ehrenfeld.

Brandy, welcome.

I see you're here and off mute.

Good afternoon.

My name is Brandy McNeil and I am a Deputy Director at Purpose Dignity Action or PDA.

I help manage the LEAD program.

I'm calling today in support of using the public safety tax to restore LEAD funding.

By doing so, you will maximize the reach of LEAD and thereby maximize Medicaid utilization where appropriate for LEAD participants.

LEAD is first and foremost a public safety framework.

It supports people who interact with the criminal legal system primarily due to extreme poverty, substance use, and or unmet behavioral health needs, getting them on a path of recovery and reducing their encounters with the criminal legal system.

There is a significant overlap between those who qualify for LEAD and those who consistently interact with emergency medical services and other expensive medical services.

When those folks lack health insurance, each ambulance ride and each emergency room visit cost our healthcare system and our city millions of dollars.

In 2027, Medicaid requirements will change to impose work requirements.

A majority of people who qualify for LEAD are eligible for Medicaid, and many will also qualify for exemptions to those work requirements.

Without long-term case management, those experiencing extreme poverty with unmet behavioral health needs will have virtually no chance of successfully completing exemption paperwork on their own.

The process will likely be complex and confusing, required documentation many won't have, and will have to be repeated at least every six months.

LEAD participants, however, will have a case manager walking alongside them, hitting the street, finding them wherever they are every six months, and sitting down over multiple sessions if necessary to complete the paperwork, and then over months and years, teach that person to complete the paperwork on their own.

When that lead participant visits an emergency room or is connected to a primary care provider, those costs will be warranted by Medicaid, freeing up city dollars for other uses.

Simply put, the more people who can take part in lead, the more people who can receive support in enrolling in and maintaining Medicaid enrollment where they're eligible.

LEAD is an investment that not only addresses public safety, but maximizes use of Medicaid resources.

And for those reasons, I urge you to adopt the mayor's recommendation.

Thank you, Brandy.

Up next is Yvonne Nelson, Crystal Erickson, John Ehrenfeld.

Yvonne, welcome.

I see you're off mute.

Take it away.

Hi, thank you for listening today, Council, and I want to thank you for your funding of LEAD in the upcoming budget.

I just wanted to reiterate how important long-term case management is and how necessary it is by sharing a story of a client that I had the opportunity and the pleasure to follow around for an entire year before they decided to accept any services.

They were being moved around from one street corner to another, from one tent to another, and after approaching her each and every time, First she wouldn't say anything and then as time went on, as she seen I was consistent, she began to build trust with me and I was able to help her get into shelter and from shelter housing.

And I just believe strongly in what LEAD stands for and how we build relationships and how collaboration with other entities working in the downtown corridor and other places in Seattle where LEAD performs.

Also, there's another client that we connected to healthcare that continues to be on Third Avenue, and she is able to connect with me to connect with the NeighborCare nurses in the REACH office in Markham.

All these essential services are necessary to help move our clients in a better way and it takes time to do that.

It takes consistency and it takes folks to believe in what we are doing.

Thank you.

Thank you and up next is Crystal Erickson followed by John Ehrenfeld.

Good afternoon City Council members.

My name is Crystal Erickson and I've been with the Co-lead program since it began during COVID.

I started as a case manager with CoLead.

Today, I help manage CoLead, a service provider to lead, and I've seen firsthand the lives that's changed.

One of the most powerful parts of CoLead is our aftercare phase, a golden thread that carries people from shelter into housing and helps them stay there.

For 12 months, we walk alongside participants, providing intentional case management, connecting them to treatment, mental health care, and community support.

This year alone, I've watched people who once struggled on the streets enter recovery through programs like Lakeside Milam, reconnect with family, and build stable, hopeful lives.

The impact of LEAD is all around us.

When you enjoy a movie or music at Courthouse Park, catch a Mariners game, or exit at Dearborn, look around.

Those spaces look different because people who once lived there are now building new beginnings, thanks to LEAD and Co-LEAD.

Thanks for your support on the sales tax so we can continue to help our neighbors come inside and thrive.

Thank you, Crystal.

And up last but not least, John Ehrenfeld.

John, welcome.

I see you're here.

Star six to unmute.

Hi, counsel.

I'd like to thank you for having me.

I want to briefly echo Lead Director Wolf's comments as well as those of his colleagues.

My name is John Ehrenfeld.

I run the Alternative Response Team out of SFD Health One, where we engage with many of the same clients.

One of the biggest challenges that we face is whom to refer these clients to once the initial crisis is statewide.

We in programs like ours really struggle to identify partners who will work with our highest need clients and can help them navigate an extremely complex and difficult housing and behavioral health care system.

We have a strong and productive relationship with the lead team and we coordinate with them frequently both on the strategic and client level.

I encourage the city to maintain funding for this vital program whose impact is felt very profoundly.

Thank you all for your time.

Thank you, John.

Thank you for all the work that you do for our city.

Seeing as we have no additional speakers remotely or physically present, we will end the public comment period and move on to the next agenda item.

Moving on to the next agenda item, folks come on up to the table and will the clerk please read the item into the record.

Agent item one, council vote 121083 relating to taxation, imposing local sales and use tax to fund investments and criminal justice for briefing, discussion and a possible vote.

Thank you.

And just as a game update, as folks are getting ready, we are down eight to three, Seattle Mariners against the other team.

We are down eight to three in the middle of the eighth.

So we've got another inning to go.

With that, we've got Director Ben Noble and Tom Mikesell of Council Central staff.

We have had this bill now briefed.

This is the second formal time in the Select Budget Committee right now.

In addition to this, we had council president sponsor a resolution regarding this tax earlier this year, where we had two presentations and a full council vote.

So this could be the fifth time or the second time, depending on how you're counting this item before us.

This is scheduled for a vote this afternoon.

So colleagues, please do ask your questions once the presentation is through.

I will ask to hold questions until the end of their presentation that we've more or less seen before with some new information.

With that, over to you, Director Noble.

Thank you.

I'm going to almost immediately turn this over to Tom to walk you through a presentation which will be very familiar.

It's largely what we presented a couple of weeks ago, but still thought it might be helpful to help frame whatever discussion and questions you might have.

The point is made in this PowerPoint, but just to lay out that, maybe one of the most important policy issues or dynamics is that the bill that you're looking at today would authorize the city to impose this tax.

And the tax, as Tom will explain, has somewhat limited uses at a technical level, but because of opportunities to supplant it, it's effectively general fund resource.

And what the tax does is it authorizes the city to impose it.

It does not spend the money.

There are no appropriations made in this bill.

the appropriations that the mayor has proposed with regard to this new money for 2026 are contained in the budget and so your discussions and deliberations about how to use the money really makes sense in the context of the budget again this bill just says you can impose the tax and we're here and Tom will describe why it is that we are here you are here today to take that vote potentially rather than later in the budget process as well so with that Tom

Good afternoon, members of the committee.

Tom Mikeslow with your central staff.

So as Ben mentioned, this is going to be a largely familiar presentation.

There are a few new additions that I'll point out along the way.

So we're talking about the public safety sales tax before you today, a background in terms of how this came to be.

In July of this year, state legislature passed Chapter 350 of Laws 2025 that provides the option for the city to exercise and enact a councilmanic sales tax for public safety purposes.

As estimated by the City Budget Office, confirmed by the Forecast Office, that would generate $39 million in 2026. That entire amount is, in fact, allocated in the mayor's budget proposal before you.

This Council Bill 121038 would impose a tax, but as Director Noble mentioned, it does not actually spend the money that's in the Appropriations Bill.

and given kind of the point of why we're talking about this now as opposed to with other budget legislation that will come later in your schedule is because of the State Department of Revenue implementation deadlines which require the tax to be approved prior to October 18th in order to get a full year's worth of revenue.

If it is delayed past that point in time, we would only get three quarters worth of that $39 million estimate.

So one final point, Seattle cannot create any of its own deductions, exemptions, or credits against this tax because it is actually a state tax that we are just given the option to exercise.

So I'm just going to move into just a few of the policy considerations.

Again, these will be familiar to you.

It's, I guess, well known that a sales tax is a regressive tax because it is paid by everyone who makes purchases in the city of Seattle, irrespective of their income levels.

The current tax rate on purchases is 10.35% in the city.

It's going to be impacted by a King County decision to exercise their slice of this authority, which is also a 0.1% tax.

And then this particular proposal would increase that to 10.55% effective January 1st of this year.

One thing to point out is that most food for home consumption is exempt from taxation.

So just in terms of the kind of order of magnitude of this tax, we're talking about $25 on a $25,000 worth of purchases.

So again, not a very large amount in terms of order of magnitude.

However, that all depends on how much, what your income level is.

And then one final thing, kind of in just a level of uncertainty that we have in general about our economic situation.

We have an October forecast, as you all know, that's gonna come, I believe, October 20th from the Office of Economic and Revenue Forecast and CBO.

Indications that we hear to the extent that we have real-time data from the federal government.

Apologies, I'm not up to date on my, here we go.

Here we go.

That we're not up to date on the, or that we receive information, the balance of the uncertainty is going to be negative.

Next set of policy considerations, the updated general fund financial plan that we received from the City Budget Office shows a $140 million deficit beginning in 2027, and that's actually an increase from the deficit that we saw last year for the same year.

So we are going to have a higher deficit in the context of this new additional revenue.

And then finally, the state authorizing legislation does not include a non-supplanting clause.

It just needs to be spent for public safety purposes, whether those are in the existing budget or new appropriations.

In the proposed budget, we're kind of further along in the analysis than we were before.

There's about $24 million that is assigned to new spending, and then $15 million that is supplanting existing appropriations in the budget.

and then with the assumption of that $15 million is used for other things in the budget.

And Tom, I'm gonna take a personal point of order at the moment.

Are you done?

This is the end of your presentation.

I'm gonna ask that we turn off the projector so folks, if you've in the audience using either of the TVs on the side will be helpful.

Thank you.

With that, anything, sorry to interrupt you right there at the end, you got to any other questions, anything that you would like to complete with?

That's it.

Very straightforward.

Councilmember Kettle is chair of the Public Safety Committee.

I'll call on you first, and then Council President Nelson is sponsor of the resolution from this summer.

I'll call on you second, so.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

Thank you, Director Noble and Mr. Mike Sell for coming today.

This issue has been is something that's been discussed for a while now, and from my perspective and in my conversations with others to include our budget chair is like, hey, how does this play out in terms of our economics?

How does it play out in terms of structural budget reform, fiscal status, and even good governance in terms of where we are and doing this for the reasons that are underpinned by sound, good governance.

And I think we've reached that point.

Obviously, there's the October forecast coming out, but we know there's headwinds in our economy.

We know there's different pieces that have shown up in different ways over the course of this year.

to be able to do what we need to do is really important and it's highlighted in the recitals where it noted that public safety continues to be a top priority for the people of Seattle and that this tax will be for criminal justice purposes.

One of the things that I've been speaking to during the course of committee meetings but also the full council is the need for a functional criminal justice system.

It is so important that we do and part of that goes to the funding and an area of this is the seams between public safety and public health and human services.

And basically this is what this bill is looking to do.

and address this change, which is in a sense a structural reform within the public safety side of things.

The proposed revenue investments to include treatment, and I thank the Council President for her advocacy on this point.

It's really important because of that point of, and as it was repeated yesterday in the King County Council, no less, you can't succeed in public safety if you don't succeed in public health.

And so it's really important.

And a key piece to this, and going back to the idea of the scene between public safety, public health, and human services is the place that the PDA's LEED program is.

And it's important to have that.

It's important for the case management perspective.

It's important from the functional criminal justice system, like if we're looking to support diversion, well, A, we have to have the officers doing diversion, but we have to have that process, that functional criminal justice aspect to get them from from an engagement with a police officer to potentially treatment if it's addiction, if it warrants that.

And this is an important piece.

And I go back to the case management piece too because in addition to having a functional criminal justice system, we need a functional public health system.

And with what's happening on the federal side right now in terms of threats to Medicare, Medicaid and the like, the case management system like to push and to document the status of those individuals as it relates to potential changes in the Medicaid requirements, that's going to come out to be an investment that pays for itself because if the Medicaid piece falls apart then that is major problems for the public health but then in turn for the public safety system.

So these are some of the reasons why like behind the proposed revenue investments and then and drop underneath that the idea of a functional criminal justice system and the idea of SEAMS is really important.

Separately, there's also the piece about alternative response, taking in the lessons learned over the last half decade plus, or actually longer decades really, with the care department, what we're looking to do there, and to ensure that the alternative response piece is successful moving forward, but also in elements like FIRE.

Now, FIRE, it's the FIRE recruits, but I just take this opportunity to highlight Health 99, Health 1, and those pieces as well.

And you mentioned, Mr. Mikesell, what the King County has done, what the King County Council has done, and I just wanted to note, colleagues, that I've been in a lot of conversations lately with my King County Council counterpart, and I will continue to do that because it's really important.

We need to do this in different areas, public safety generally, but also transit safety like the work that we did with Chair Saka and his transportation committee because King County Metro, all these pieces are out there and we need to be working together to ensure that we're in sync and that we're not duplicative and it's like another version of budget reform in terms of working with our King County counterparts to ensure that, you know, we're being smart with the money and not being duplicative.

And I just wanted to note that, too, because it's really important.

And so thank you, again, Director Novo and Mr. Mike Sell and Chair.

I noted it's, we're down 3-8 at the bottom of the eighth with one out.

So rally hat.

I'm putting on my Mariner's hat on, too, just to inspire a rally.

Let's see.

I'm getting some looks here on the dais, but Chair Strauss is behind me on this effort.

So rally cap time here on the Seattle City Council.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

With that, Javier Baez rounds out to force an out third baseman, Eugenio Suarez to second baseman.

and you can't read that fast.

So we got another out while Council Member Kettle was talking.

Council President, you sponsored a resolution earlier this year explaining how you believed we should spend this funding.

This is not an authorization to fund these different programs that you've described, but it was connected to this bill.

Floor is yours to speak on.

Thank you very much.

I can't remember the number of that resolution, but you might say I had a crystal ball back in June or July or so when I thought, okay, we've got this.

The legislature had authorized a new source of revenue, and I bet you the mayor is going to use it.

Anticipating that, I had been meeting with the directors of the PDA, DESC and ETS for a couple of months prior to hammer out a package of investments that made sense to move from a program here and a program there to have a more comprehensive plan to help people get on a path of recovery and then have some place to go afterwards.

We're still working on the afterwards in recovery-based housing, but the point is, yes, this package, I'm speaking only to the lead and the treatment components of these investments, but this is This list was established a long time ago in communication with those leaders and also service providers that fall far outside the household names.

I'm talking about Hope and Chance and We Heart Seattle and Anyway, the resolution that came forward in the summer was presented a list of interventions that would be good for people without any kind of direction on which one is best to choose.

So there are many paths to recovery.

Anyway, the investments that, let me just get more real here.

The investments that this that we're about to make possible by passing this, if we do this legislation, seem like a no-brainer right now.

But in fact, they're fairly extraordinary.

And I'll tell you why.

It wasn't so long ago, three years in fact, that I had to literally beg the budget chair to include funding for residential treatment in the chair's package.

It didn't work.

People weren't ready to take what I thought was the obvious step to break the cycle of homelessness, hospitalizations, and often jail and death.

It might have been something about the pay-as-you-go funding model, whereby caseworkers would refer clients who are ready to go clean to a regional residential drug treatment center or facility, and it could be non-profit or private, which would in turn invoice the city once treatment is complete.

What I'm describing now is that pilot program that was successful the following year.

But I do think that there were some barriers because that was a novel funding model.

But I, having spent a month in treatment myself, was absolutely shocked that there was no public funding, not from the city nor from the county, for comprehensive on-demand treatment.

I'm talking about when I was just, took office in 2022. I just thought that's really strange considering the gravity of the fentanyl crisis that we see on our streets all the time.

So anyway, that's where that idea came from.

And the on-demand part is really important because it takes a really long time to get one of those Medicaid covered beds in a treatment center in which time it could So anyway, for too long we've watched people suffering from untreated mental illness and also substance use disorder deteriorate in our streets and make our neighborhoods less safe and so it's now time to do something about that.

All right.

I recognize very clearly I've got some cognitive dissonance about the fact that this is a regressive tax.

I am mindful of that and I think that the benefits that will be generated from this package far eclipses the cost there, because it is definitely something that is driving so many of our other challenges.

So I really thank you very much, Chair, for having this in your committee, the Select Budget Committee, so that we can get this done and take advantage of the resources as soon as possible to begin helping our people.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

Tom, I'm just gonna ask you or clarify a couple points from your presentation and I will say I'm gonna separate out the uses, potential uses, because it is part of the budget and as part of the budget deliberation, the uses contemplated by this could be covered in other ways if we so choose.

So I'm gonna separate that out.

and just really talk about the sales tax, the actual mechanism of doing the actual additional sales tax.

So on page one, you have here in your presentation that Seattle cannot create its own deductions, exemptions, or credits against this tax.

So there are limited policy choices in how it is implemented.

Did the state contemplate, do you know, when they passed this tax, whether or not they would make certain exemptions.

And I'll give an example.

In New York City, for instance, the sales tax is exempted for items that are $100 and below because they're trying to get to ensuring that low-income folks aren't having to pay this.

The sales tax is trying to give a consideration to low-income folks.

And I would have wanted to see this here.

I know you and I talked, but I want to to understand better with the state.

Thanks for the question, Councilmember Rivera.

So I don't have the full legislative record at my fingertips, but I do know that the existing relief, so key among that is the exemption for food for at-home consumption carries through to this tax increment as well.

So in that regard, at least that feature that kind of helps those who have lower incomes is still present in the existing base sales tax and with this increment.

But I don't know what the discussion was about perhaps adding additional carve-outs, but there were not any added to this.

It's just simply 0.1% increment.

And I could add that I think it's a separate action at the state legislature.

This past session, the state legislature did redefine the sets of activities and goods that are subject to the sales tax.

In particular, they extended the set of issues to which the sales tax was applied to include some level of services.

So I don't think they had the discussion at the same time, but there was policy made with regard to what the sales tax applies this past session at the same time that this additional taxing authority was approved.

Thank you, Ben.

They extended what it could apply to, but they didn't give any allowances.

So, for instance, I'll say, folks, low-income folks don't only have to pay for groceries.

They also have to buy shoes for their children and coats in the winter and et cetera, et cetera, right?

So this applies to a lot of things that low-income folks also have to pay for.

And it also doesn't exempt if you get a sandwich at the sandwich shop.

etc., those things are subject to the sales tax.

So it's just the items you might buy at the grocery store.

Okay, and then the other thing I want to hit on is on page two.

when you, you know, thank you for giving the example of what it might look like.

I will say that there is another consideration here when, you know, when you say like it would add $25 to a 25k purchase for instance.

But what's not contained here and I think that is for consideration is the fact that We have other taxis that we've levied, last year transportation levy, this year a FEP levy, a B&O levy, next year a public libraries levy.

King County did pass a 0.1% sales tax already, so that's gonna start in January.

I say those other property taxes, in terms of low-income folks, a lot of the low-income folks are renters, and a lot of those taxes get passed on to the low-income folks as part of their rents, for instance.

I know that the state has done some allowance for increase of rent, but a lot of this stuff does get passed on to low-income folks as well.

So all that to say I appreciate like every time we do a tax we say oh it's only gonna go up a certain percentage that means you know a couple dollars but then once you add all that up all the things that we're levying it is more substantive or substantial than it may appear if we're just talking about the one tax in time, so I just wanted to highlight that.

Chair, I'm assuming that after we talk we're gonna go straight to the vote, so I'm just gonna make some comments about in general.

Colleagues, I'm struggling as you can hear with this sales tax proposal.

We're essentially taxing poor people to help poor people and this doesn't seem right to me.

As you know, sales tax is the most regressive tax and this proposal comes on the heels of, as I said earlier, the King County already imposing an increase.

Basically, they preempted us in this 0.1% sales tax increase, bringing Seattle's tax currently to 10.45 and then, of course, 10.55 if this should pass.

Seattle has one of the highest sales taxes in the country, higher than New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston.

And even in the other eight states that don't have an income tax like Washington State, it is higher than cities like Austin, Nashville, and Miami.

We continue to grapple with a huge affordability problem in Seattle, and this just contributes to it.

And honestly, this proposal is taking the place of what we keep saying is really needed, a hard look at the city's budget.

So with all those comments, I will say I won't be supporting this sales tax increase.

It just doesn't seem right to me because of the issue of taxing poor people.

this has a huge impact on our low-income populations.

And in this age of Seattle's just getting less and less affordable, it just doesn't seem right.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Rink.

I see you've got your hand up.

And colleagues, if you'd like to speak, now it's time to put your hand up.

Council Member Rink.

You are, hang on real quick.

Unfortunately, we have to turn on the projector momentarily.

I just have a couple of questions for this, primarily just one.

I am concerned about the potential loss of our federal continuum of care dollars that keep people housed who may otherwise become homeless.

Question for central staff, can this revenue stream be used to backfill any federal cuts to continuum of care programs such as permanent supportive housing or other homelessness services?

Additionally, could this funding be used for gender-based violence services?

Thank you for the question.

So as I indicated in the presentation, the actual state legislation does not have a non-supplantation clause.

And so essentially how this works is, so long as we have eligible funding within the city budget, the $1.9 billion of general fund, which we do, that we could assign this tax to, then that would then free up money for some other thing.

And in fact, that is happening Currently, in this proposal, there's about $15 million that's assigned to the care department.

The care department is fully funded in the budget.

That resource then goes to some other ads.

And again, this will be covered in more detail in the general fund balancing presentation.

But the bigger issue is that all of this money is fully deployed in the budget.

So adding some new allocation would require some cut in the proposal that's before you right now.

For me, that also highlights a general point that makes the distinction between authorizing the tax and the use of the tax.

I think meaningfully distinct and importantly distinct, that given the deficit that's forecast going forward, It will always make it simpler to balance if you have more revenue.

And this revenue is effectively unconstrained in terms of its uses.

So again, the debate to come about how that budget authorizes expenditures and for what.

But it is a revenue tool in that if you need to close the deficit, there are two ways to do that.

One is to increase revenues and the others to make cuts.

So this would potentially be a tool on that front without regard to the question of how it gets spent ultimately.

Thank you both for that answer.

And Chair, would you prefer if we make final remarks on the underlying bill now?

Yeah, take it away.

Thank you, Chair.

Colleagues, as we've now discussed, this proposed public safety sales tax is a tool that our state lawmakers in Olympia have given local governments to utilize to balance our budgets.

And while I can appreciate the legislature giving jurisdictions this tool because the need is so dire.

It is disappointing and frustrating that the option that they have given us is one of the most regressive options, a sales tax.

And as we've discussed, a sales tax will always place a disproportionate burden on those in our community who are working class and low income.

And so I can appreciate our discussion here today and also voice my appreciation for the initial proposal from the executive on the use of these funds, particularly in terms of funding alternative response, our care team.

The opportunity to fund these critical programs is really important, while also the opportunity this presents to balance some of our most troubling potential losses in federal funding cuts.

And I could say all these things while also noting that I wanna urge this legislative body to work together on more progressive revenue options.

And I would like to urge this body to work with my office, to work in the state legislature this year to continue lifting restrictions on local governments for more progressive revenue options.

And so I hope we can continue this discussion and have that shared goal for the 2026 state legislative discussion session, pardon me. and with that chair, I yield my time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any other comments or questions?

Seeing none, I'll make my remarks and then I'll also give you the unfortunate game update that we will be going to game five.

So we will have a Mariners game this Friday, game five.

On this tax before us, over the past few years we have been in a period of slower growth and higher inflation as compared to the previous decade that was high growth, low inflation.

We have seen increasing needs in our community and unfortunately state law bans many progressive tax options.

We saw this as we had the revenue stabilization work group provide a number of recommendations and half of them were not legal to implement.

The state has also capped our traditional tax revenues in a way that grows slower than inflation.

So with our 1% sales tax growth per year that is well below inflation every single year.

This year the state legislature gave cities and counties in Washington very few options to continue to provide services without making our budget insolvent.

This proposed sales tax was the only substantive option provided.

I am no fan of regressive taxes like this and we need our state lawmakers to do more and to provide us more options and to fix the problems that they've caused.

At the same time, this tax is slated to go towards expanding public safety responses, addiction treatment and our fire department.

These are worthwhile investments only possible with this legislation.

So I will be voting yesterday and our state has a lot of work to do to fix our tax code to make it less regressive.

I'll continue fighting for those changes as I have every year I've been in office.

and it was really unfortunate with the state legislature this year.

They had many different options on the table and this is the only one that made it out that passed.

Colleagues with that, if there are no final comments, I believe I still need to move and this is another example of we can discuss an item without moving and seconding it.

So at this time, I will move Council Bill 121083. Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to recommend passage of Council Bill 121083. Will the clerk please call the roll on 121083.

Council Member Rivera.

No.

Council Member Sacca.

Aye.

Council Member Salomon.

Aye.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Juarez.

Aye.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Rink.

Oh, I need to, just a second Council Member Rink, I need to change the production.

Council Member Rink.

Yes.

Thank you.

Chair Strauss.

Yes.

Eight in favor, one opposed.

Thank you.

The motion passes and in order to meet the upcoming state deadlines as presented in the presentation just a moment ago, the council must pass this and the mayor must sign it before October 18th for collections to begin in quarter one of 2026. Again, as the presentation just stated, if we do not meet this deadline, it will be $9 million less that we have to allocate towards public safety.

Said another way, if we took a 1% haircut on every single one of our departments, we would have $10 million.

If we excluded public safety departments, we would have $5 million.

So this amount of money represents taking a 2% skim off of every single department other than public safety departments.

That's the gravity of what we're dealing with right now.

With that, I recommend that council bill 121083 be sent to the October 14th city council meeting.

Is there any objection to send this bill to the October 14th city council meeting?

Hearing no objection, the committee will recommend that the Council Bill 121083 be sent to the Tuesday, October 14th, Seattle City Council meeting.

Colleagues, that ends our business for the only item on the agenda.

Is there any other business for the good of the order?

Seeing as we have no additional business for the good of the order, this does conclude the Wednesday, October 8th, 2025 Select Budget Committee.

Thank you.