This week the Seattle City Council will discuss and vote on a long list of amendments for the 2025-2026 budget. Here are the big fights to look out for. by Hannah Krieg

This week the Seattle City Council will discuss and vote on a long list of amendments for the 2025-2026 budget. Here are the big fights to look out for. 

Capital Gains: Comrade Cathy Moore (she’s earned the title until she pisses me off later in this same post) proposed a 2% tax on profits exceeding $262,000 from the sale and exchange of stocks, bonds, and business interests. The tax could generate anywhere from $16 million and $51 million in its first year and would only apply to about 860 of the city’s wealthiest residents, according to central staff analysis.

Moore wants to use that money to pay for fund rental assistance, homeownership programs, and to fight food insecurity. However,  my typical expert sources on progressive revenue declined to comment on Moore’s proposed spending priorities. Notably, Moore did not propose explicitly codifying those priorities and it's not like anyone respects spending plans anyway! 

Moore’s tax would be a local expansion of the statewide capital gains tax that the good people of Washington overwhelmingly voted to protect from a right-wing attack earlier this month. That same attack, an initiative backed by hedge fund millionaire Brian Heywood, stopped the previous council from voting on a capital gains tax in their last budget process. At the time, The Stranger (me, it was me) lamented that the incoming conservative council would decline to take up the fight, or if one brave member did, they simply wouldn’t have the votes to pass it. Council Member Tammy Morales and Rob Saka are co-sponsoring the amendment, a collaboration that signals broad support. Morales represents the leftmost voice on the council and Saka usually aligns with the conservative majority. If you want the amendment to pass, my best advice is to urge Council Members Joy Hollingsworth and Dan Strauss to vote yes — they seem the most likely path to a majority. 

Other revenue: Morales has her eye on other revenue streams. Even though the Mayor proposed a balanced budget, filling the looming deficit largely by raiding JumpStart funds that ought to pay for affordable housing, the City will still face another, smaller deficit in 2027. Morales requested Central Staff to write plans implementing a digital advertising excise tax and an excise tax on “professional services” such as realtor, accountant, architect, and other services. Thinking ahead. We love to see it. 

SLUT shaming: Saka proposed an amendment asking the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to make a plan to retire the South Lake Union Streetcar, which people sometimes call the “SLUT” even though the acronym would actually be “SLUS.” 

In a press release, Saka said he’s “deeply concerned that residents aren’t getting what they paid for” from the SLUT. Before the pandemic, the SLUT saw 500,000 riders a year, but in 2023, it only saw about 175,000, according to the Urbanist. 

“There are much more effective ways we could be investing our transit dollars and that’s why I’m proposing the executive take a serious look at alternatives with my amendment,” Saka said in a press release. “This isn’t about killing transit – it’s about ensuring our transportation dollars are wisely spent on expanded transit service in the area that people will actually use! At its core, this is a 1-for-1, transit-for-transit investment that would require a thoughtful transition of service.”  

He and his cosponsors Moore and Bob Kettle also proposed an amendment to scrap the plan to connect the two streetcars from the Capital Improvement Program. 

For Our Boys In Blue: If you thought the Mayor’s budget and the Chair’s subsequent balancing package couldn’t get any friendlier to the Seattle Police Department (SPD), you would be wrong. Moore proposed an amendment to ask SDP to draft a plan to provide officers with childcare, possibly run by the City. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of public childcare for everyone, but the City Council and the Mayor consistently give special treatment to the cops over other City workers and Seattle residents. Moore will likely make a feminist appeal over the amendment because figuring out officers’ childcare woos may encourage more women, often saddled with more responsibility in raising children, to join the force. 

Renters rights: Morales answered one of the loudest calls from the working people of the budget — reverse Harrell’s defunding of renters services. Her amendment would fully restore tenant services to the tune of nearly $1 million over the biennium. Since all amendments must come with a funding source, Morales suggested taking the money from the Office of Economic Development and reducing funding for the Mayor’s Downtown Activation Plan. Guess we won’t get a second Space Needle anytime soon, but the amendment just might save your housing. 

However, Moore proposed a proviso that limits funding for eviction legal services to those who make under 200% of the area median income. That’s inline with State law and while City law provides some flexibilty, the Housing Justice Project says they haven't taken on clients above 80% this year at all. 

The proposal mirrors one introduced earlier this year by King County Council Member Regan Dunn. Both of them must have been following the conservative media circus around the landlord in Bellevue who claimed his tenant was loaded, but choosing not to pay rent. That narrative of the freeloading tenant has gained popularity with landlords, most notably the Low Income Housing Institute. 

Speaking of provisos: Moore also partnered with Council Member Martiza Rivera on a proviso that would hold hostage $29.5 million —or six months of funding —earmarked for shelter services through the Human Services Department (HSD). HSD can lift the proviso by submitting a report and answering a list of questions. You can read up on all the amendments up for individual vote here. Over the next few days, watch the council discuss final amendments in real time on the Seattle Channel or follow my play-by-play on Twitter.

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