Mayor Harrell Proposes Urgent Public Safety Investments in Mid-Year Supplemental Budget Package

Seattle - Today, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced critical public safety investments as part of his Mid-Year Supplemental budget package which builds on the 2023-2024 adopted budget. In addition to previously announced efforts to expand the CARE Department and support youth mental health, the proposed investments include recruiting and training public safety staff, abating dangerous buildings, and improving sexual assault investigations, and will be net revenue neutral.

"Seattle is making meaningful progress on our most serious public safety challenges and this package will ensure we continue that momentum with needed investments, improvements, and staffing," said Mayor Bruce Harrell. "This revenue-neutral budget package represents both an urgent and thoughtful investment to improve safety and address behavioral health needs, bringing a strategic spending approach and pursuing outside funds to make our dollars go farther."

The Mid-Year Supplemental package includes $1.7 million in general fund spending would be fully paid for in 2024 through savings from the hiring freeze announced earlier this year as well as anticipated healthcare cost savings.

• Police Recruitment - $800,000 to expand recruitment marketing and continue making progress on this critical need.
• Dangerous Buildings - $350,000 to cover the cost of demolishing vacant buildings which represent a significant hazard with over 30 fires so far this year. This funding will cover demolition costs while the City recovers expenses from property owners.
• Paramedic Hiring - $258,000 to train five additional paramedic students and address vacancies in this essential role.
• Sexual Assaults - $250,000 to address gaps identified as a result of the mayor's Executive Order and the work of the Mayor's Advisory Panel on Sexual Assault and System Reform to develop a new trauma-informed training for police, expand analysis of data and cases, and improve victim support.

The Mid-Year Supplemental package authorizes up to ten million dollars total in youth mental health investments with 2024 costs covered by the Payroll Expense Tax.

• School Based Counselors - $5.6 million to add full-time mental health counselors in all 29 school-based health centers beginning in January 2025 to expand in-person therapy access and explore scaling up solutions in partnership with Public Health - Seattle & King County.
• Telehealth Therapy - $2.4 million to make it easier for students to access appropriate care through telehealth therapy services, expanding access to telehealth from 80 students currently to over 2,000 as efforts are further refined and scaled.
• School Safety - $2 million toward youth violence prevention, intervention, and interruption programs and other steps to promote short- and long-term safety.

The package also includes $1.9 million to add 21 new positions to the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department as part of the expansion to deploy behavioral health responders citywide and seven days a week announced in June. The 2024 costs for the CARE expansion are fully funded through federal support thanks to Congressman Adam Smith and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal's support.

The City has been working on police recruitment marketing campaigns with award-winning local ad agency Copacino Fujikado since last August on this project, and since they started police applicant numbers have more than doubled. SPD received an average of 14.7 officer applications per day in June 2024, compared to 5.6 applications per day in June 2023.

"We are proud to share these untold stories, which demonstrate the depth and richness of a career in the Seattle Police Department and the diverse opportunities available within the department," said Copacino Fujikado CEO Scott Foreman. "As a business rooted in downtown Seattle, we recognize the importance of this campaign in not only attracting potential candidates but also in addressing the unique challenges our community faces."

The supplemental package also and pays the cost of updated collective bargaining agreements with the Coalition of City Unions, Local 27 Firefighters, and police officers. The 2024 costs for labor contracts were covered through a combination of reserves held for that purpose and cost saving measures.