(The Center Square) – The Seattle City Council is considering a $12.4 million add-on to increase police officer staffing levels after Mayor Katie Wilson proposed halting net growth in 2028 in her first budget.
The Seattle Police Department continues to recover from a net loss of 326 officers from 2020 to 2022, when the COVID-19 pandemic and “defund the police” movement rocked the city. The mayor’s budget for 2027-28 would add a net 43 hires to SPD, but if approved, it would halt net hiring growth in 2028.
This comes as Wilson grapples with a $175 million general fund deficit that must balance out on paper.
Councilmember Bob Kettle, the public safety chair, has called the mayor’s plan the “unfund” budget, with Councilmembers Rob Saka and Maritza Rivera also arguing that Wilson is deprioritizing public safety.
Both officials co-sponsored Kettle’s proposed amendment with Councilmember Debora Juarez during Thursday’s Select Budget Committee meeting, which could increase net officer growth to 135 by 2028.
“We could see that the executive was purposely dropping from the 12 down to the seven,” Kettle said, referring to the city reducing hiring police recruits each month under Wilson’s budget.
SPD’s budget funded 1,497 officers at the start of the pandemic; Wilson’s plan funds 1,250, but many of those new hires would be in training, so her budget would not translate to that many on the street.
“It is not OK for the city to shirk its chartered responsibilities on behalf of our constituents,” Rivera said. “They expect that when they call 911, someone will show up and will show up timely, [and] will show up in general, which sometimes can’t happen because of the prioritization that needs to happen.”
When asked about the plan by The Center Square on Oct. 13, Wilson said hiring isn’t the issue; it’s a “bottleneck in training.”
Kent Loux, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, described that issue in an interview with The Center Square, but argued that Wilson should fund closer to 1,400 officers.
According to a staff memo, “SPD estimates that an additional $22 million [in the general fund] would be required in 2029 to support the full‑year costs of officers hired under this [council budget action].”
Juarez asked for clarification Thursday after hearing talk of Wilson increasing the police budget by $68 million, as if it would substantially increase service levels. About $56 million would cover contractually obligated salary increases for the two police unions, with $12.6 million left for the officer hiring plan.
She said the union increases amounted to so much because Seattle had set aside the money over the last few years while negotiating a new agreement with the two police unions, years after the other city unions.
“For every year that it was delayed, that money was set aside because legally, never mind the politics, we owed them that money whether we like it or not,” she said. “That’s where that pot of money was.”
When it came time to make good on years of retroactive payments agreed on in the SPOG contract by Wilson’s predecessor, Seattle overpaid 900 SPD employees by $13 million. SPOG and the city are negotiating potential repayment, but the budget assumes the money won’t be returned anytime soon.
Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck called the overpayment “a $13.1 million mistake” on Thursday.
“We should be using our oversight role to be encouraging the executive and the Seattle Police Officers Guild to … ensure the rightful legal return of the $13.1 million of taxpayer money,” Rinck argued.
She proposed an amendment cosponsored by Councilmembers Eddie Lin and Foster that would request SPD to report on recovering the SPOG overpayment.
It would list the total amount overpaid and the number of affected employees, bargaining statuses, what’s been recovered so far, a timeline for the remaining amount and oversight controls the city could implement to prevent future payroll errors.
She wants to put the recovered funding toward affordable housing, not expanding SPD staffing levels.
“This was not presented to me and/or my staff,” Kettle said Thursday of Rinck’s proposal, referencing his role as public safety chair. “I think this is misplaced. I think this belongs with the mayor’s office.”
The council also considered several other SPD amendments, but didn’t approve anything on Thursday.
Councilmember Dan Strauss, the budget chair, is scheduled to release his proposed balancing package next week with some of their amendments before final budget adoption in late November.
