The projected deficit loomed over last year’s City Council elections, and Councilmembers Joy Hollingsworth, Bob Kettle, Cathy Moore, Maritza Rivera, Rob Saka and Tanya Woo all promised to perform an audit of the city budget before taking any other steps to close the gap.
Seattle is legally required to have a balanced budget, and has relatively few tools available when its revenues don’t match spending. City leaders can cut staff and services, they can raise taxes, loosen restrictions on taxes earmarked for certain programs, and they can nibble around the edges with things like hiring freezes, which Mayor Bruce Harrell implemented in January. The new Council majority has said they’d
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