City Hall
Council Budget Could Cut Streetcar and Snow Response Money
In the lull between now and today's election results (the next batch of ballots lands late this afternoon), here's a quick look at some of the issues the city council will be facing when it turns back to budget deliberations later this week. The council is in the process of tweaking Mayor Mike McGinn's proposed budget, and will adopt a final budget in late November; this report is based on last week's final two budget meetings.
The next budget meeting is on Thursday at 9:30 am, in council chambers.
• Reduce the amount Mayor Mike McGinn proposed setting aside for emergency and snow response by $500,000, putting that money into other transportation priorities. McGinn proposed increasing the city's emergency response fund by $800,000. The council will probably put a proviso on the money that says it can't be spent until after the winter snow season is over. "
"I don't know the history of all the snowstorms, whether they all hit in December or in March---who can predict?---[but] we do know that in 2009 that was the worst-case scenarios which was described in this budget," and there was adequate money to pay for emergency response then, council transportation committee chair Tom Rasmussen said.
• Cut $700,000 from the $1.5 million McGinn proposed to spend in 2012 on streetcar planning, reallocating that money to other transportation purposes and stipulating that the city can't spend the other $800,000 until the council is satisfied that the city has the money to extend the First Hill streetcar to Pioneer Square and has a reasonable plan to extend it north to Aloha on Capitol Hill.
• Add $250,000 to SDOT's budget to update the city's bike master plan, which is due for an upgrade in 2012. As we've reported, council members want to update the plan to include neighborhood greenways and cycletracks --- innovations that weren't anticipated in the 2007 master plan. The update would cost a total of $400,000 over two years.
• Do an assessment of McGinn's $1.9 million proposal to replace roofs on six buildings the city owns but rents out to do-gooder nonprofits to decide whether those buildings need roof replacements more than other city buildings, and how much it will cost the city to keep the buildings themselves in adequate condition to continue to rent them out. Although budget director Beth Goldberg noted that the assessment, which could cost as much as $500,000, would take away money that could be spent on repairing the roofs themselves, council president Richard Conlin said the city should be flexible about which buildings it fixes first and determine if there might be a way to get the roofs to last longer than 15 to 20 years, which is all the current proposal calls for.
• Waive permit fees for non-religious institutions that want to host temporary homeless encampments---a controversial issue during the recent debate over legislation making it easier for religious institutions to host tent cities.
• Add some drop-in hours hours back to community centers where McGinn proposed cuts, with three options on the table: Five more hours a week at four community centers, five more hours at five centers, or ten more hours at two centers. The additional hours would cost between $83,000 and $105,000 a year.
• Fund a $205,000 infrared "people-counting" system at community centers to give the parks department an idea of which community centers are most heavily used, and during which hours of the day.
• Postpone payment of a $5.9 million loan the city made in 2007 for South Lake Union streetcar construction. That loan was already extended once, in December 2009. The loan is supposed to be repaid when the city sells the streetcar maintenance property, which is currently being used as a construction office for the Mercer West project. Additionally, the city will have to figure out how to pay for ongoing streetcar operations; its original plan, which involved selling sponsorships, has "failed," according to city budget documents, "to meet expectations."
• Slow down work on the city's comprehensive plan, which is ordinarily updated every 7 years, and re-focus money that would be spent on the comp plan update on other priorities, like planning around light rail stations and reviewing a proposed upzone in South Lake Union.
• Restore funding Solid Ground's LettuceLink program, which provides seeds to low-income people, mainly immigrants. The council could decide to restore $17,000 in funding for the program, depending on whether it agrees the program is accomplishing what it set out to accomplish.
• Add $550,000 to the city budget for the nurse/family partnership program, which pays nurses to provide care and case work to low-income pregnant women, mothers, and babies, focusing on girls under the age of 18, with the goal of reducing crime and child abuse and improving infant health. The budget add would allow the city to hire six more full-time nurses.
Council budget chair Jean Godden and others suggested that, given the ongoing recession, it might make sense to phase the program in over several years instead of all at once. And council member Bruce Harrell said he didn't want to fund services that women could pay for themselves, either through their own private insurance or their parents'. "I'm just wondering if there are other sources, for example their insurance or the programs in schools for pregnant girls," Harrell said.
However, Conlin and council member Mike O'Brien both pointed out that very few of the extremely low-income girls who use the program tend to have insurance, and that many of the services---for example, case work to prevent child abuse---are covered by insurance in the first place.
• Add $200,000-$377,000 to the budget to fund community medical and dental health clinics that serve uninsured people---a population that has been increasing, along with unemployment, in Seattle.
• Increase some permit fees at the city's Department of Planning and Development, which would bring in an additional $106,000 a year.
• Come up with "new, stable, ongoing revenue sources" for parks, especially park operations, which were not funded at all in the most recent citywide parks levy. "This is a long time overdue," council member Tom Rasmussen said.
• Restore $49,000 in funding for staffing at the city's P-Patch community garden program.
• Add $317,000 for a pedestrian safety project at 23rd and Rainier, a high-collision intersection in Southeast Seattle, and $250,000 for a neighborhood greenway on Fauntleroy in West Seattle. The proposals are being backed by Southeast Seattle resident Sally Clark and West Seattle resident Tom Rasmussen, respectively, showing that neighborhoods do have champions in Seattle, even if we don't have council districts.
• Come up with a plan (which we covered previously here) to improve safety, bus access, and lighting on Third Avenue after Metro eliminates the downtown Ride Free Area.
• A pilot project moving some neighborhoods from once-a-week to every-other-week garbage pickup. McGinn decided to scuttle the pilot project, originally scheduled for last year, after some neighborhoods raised concerns about a perceived reduction in service; the pilot project will now go forward only in neighborhoods that volunteer to participate.
The next budget meeting is on Thursday at 9:30 am, in council chambers.
• Reduce the amount Mayor Mike McGinn proposed setting aside for emergency and snow response by $500,000, putting that money into other transportation priorities. McGinn proposed increasing the city's emergency response fund by $800,000. The council will probably put a proviso on the money that says it can't be spent until after the winter snow season is over. "
"I don't know the history of all the snowstorms, whether they all hit in December or in March---who can predict?---[but] we do know that in 2009 that was the worst-case scenarios which was described in this budget," and there was adequate money to pay for emergency response then, council transportation committee chair Tom Rasmussen said.
• Cut $700,000 from the $1.5 million McGinn proposed to spend in 2012 on streetcar planning, reallocating that money to other transportation purposes and stipulating that the city can't spend the other $800,000 until the council is satisfied that the city has the money to extend the First Hill streetcar to Pioneer Square and has a reasonable plan to extend it north to Aloha on Capitol Hill.
• Add $250,000 to SDOT's budget to update the city's bike master plan, which is due for an upgrade in 2012. As we've reported, council members want to update the plan to include neighborhood greenways and cycletracks --- innovations that weren't anticipated in the 2007 master plan. The update would cost a total of $400,000 over two years.
• Do an assessment of McGinn's $1.9 million proposal to replace roofs on six buildings the city owns but rents out to do-gooder nonprofits to decide whether those buildings need roof replacements more than other city buildings, and how much it will cost the city to keep the buildings themselves in adequate condition to continue to rent them out. Although budget director Beth Goldberg noted that the assessment, which could cost as much as $500,000, would take away money that could be spent on repairing the roofs themselves, council president Richard Conlin said the city should be flexible about which buildings it fixes first and determine if there might be a way to get the roofs to last longer than 15 to 20 years, which is all the current proposal calls for.
• Waive permit fees for non-religious institutions that want to host temporary homeless encampments---a controversial issue during the recent debate over legislation making it easier for religious institutions to host tent cities.
• Add some drop-in hours hours back to community centers where McGinn proposed cuts, with three options on the table: Five more hours a week at four community centers, five more hours at five centers, or ten more hours at two centers. The additional hours would cost between $83,000 and $105,000 a year.
• Fund a $205,000 infrared "people-counting" system at community centers to give the parks department an idea of which community centers are most heavily used, and during which hours of the day.
• Postpone payment of a $5.9 million loan the city made in 2007 for South Lake Union streetcar construction. That loan was already extended once, in December 2009. The loan is supposed to be repaid when the city sells the streetcar maintenance property, which is currently being used as a construction office for the Mercer West project. Additionally, the city will have to figure out how to pay for ongoing streetcar operations; its original plan, which involved selling sponsorships, has "failed," according to city budget documents, "to meet expectations."
• Slow down work on the city's comprehensive plan, which is ordinarily updated every 7 years, and re-focus money that would be spent on the comp plan update on other priorities, like planning around light rail stations and reviewing a proposed upzone in South Lake Union.
• Restore funding Solid Ground's LettuceLink program, which provides seeds to low-income people, mainly immigrants. The council could decide to restore $17,000 in funding for the program, depending on whether it agrees the program is accomplishing what it set out to accomplish.
• Add $550,000 to the city budget for the nurse/family partnership program, which pays nurses to provide care and case work to low-income pregnant women, mothers, and babies, focusing on girls under the age of 18, with the goal of reducing crime and child abuse and improving infant health. The budget add would allow the city to hire six more full-time nurses.
Council budget chair Jean Godden and others suggested that, given the ongoing recession, it might make sense to phase the program in over several years instead of all at once. And council member Bruce Harrell said he didn't want to fund services that women could pay for themselves, either through their own private insurance or their parents'. "I'm just wondering if there are other sources, for example their insurance or the programs in schools for pregnant girls," Harrell said.
However, Conlin and council member Mike O'Brien both pointed out that very few of the extremely low-income girls who use the program tend to have insurance, and that many of the services---for example, case work to prevent child abuse---are covered by insurance in the first place.
• Add $200,000-$377,000 to the budget to fund community medical and dental health clinics that serve uninsured people---a population that has been increasing, along with unemployment, in Seattle.
• Increase some permit fees at the city's Department of Planning and Development, which would bring in an additional $106,000 a year.
• Come up with "new, stable, ongoing revenue sources" for parks, especially park operations, which were not funded at all in the most recent citywide parks levy. "This is a long time overdue," council member Tom Rasmussen said.
• Restore $49,000 in funding for staffing at the city's P-Patch community garden program.
• Add $317,000 for a pedestrian safety project at 23rd and Rainier, a high-collision intersection in Southeast Seattle, and $250,000 for a neighborhood greenway on Fauntleroy in West Seattle. The proposals are being backed by Southeast Seattle resident Sally Clark and West Seattle resident Tom Rasmussen, respectively, showing that neighborhoods do have champions in Seattle, even if we don't have council districts.
• Come up with a plan (which we covered previously here) to improve safety, bus access, and lighting on Third Avenue after Metro eliminates the downtown Ride Free Area.
• A pilot project moving some neighborhoods from once-a-week to every-other-week garbage pickup. McGinn decided to scuttle the pilot project, originally scheduled for last year, after some neighborhoods raised concerns about a perceived reduction in service; the pilot project will now go forward only in neighborhoods that volunteer to participate.
