City Council Adopts City of Tacoma’s 2025-2026 Biennial Budget

City Council Adopts City of Tacoma's 2025-2026 Biennial Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 10, 2024

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City Council Adopts City of Tacoma's 2025-2026 Biennial Budget

TACOMA, Wash. - The City Council has adopted the City of Tacoma's 2025-2026 Biennial Budget, a comprehensive financial plan that prioritizes essential services, invests in innovative solutions, and reinforces the City's commitment to fiscal responsibility. This $4.7 billion budget, developed through a collaborative and transparent process, aims to navigate current economic challenges while laying the groundwork for a thriving future.

Recognizing the impacts of inflation and a contracting economy, the City has taken a proactive approach to begin addressing the structural deficit in the General Fund with expense reductions, innovative service delivery models, realignment of expenses with dedicated revenue sources, targeted fee increases, and the elimination of certain tax exemptions. Its adopted budget helps maintain essential services while putting the City on a stronger financial footing.

Strong Investments in Public Safety, Mental Health, and Youth

With $634.8 millionallocated to the General Fund, the City's adopted budget prioritizes critical areas that directly impact the well-being of its residents.

Public safety remains a top priority for the City and there is increased funding in its adopted budget for both the fire and police departments.

The City's adopted budget also addresses the need for mental health and chemical dependency services by allocating resources for access to treatment and enhanced crisis intervention services.

Recognizing the importance of ongoing support for Tacoma's youth, the City's adopted budget maintains funding for programs that provide valuable opportunities for education, recreation, and personal development. This includes after-school programs, summer camps, youth sports leagues, and mentorship opportunities, connecting Tacoma's youth to safe and engaging activities that foster positive growth.

Proactive and Compassionate Solutions to Complex Community Challenges

Alternative response programs remain a key focus in the City's adopted budget, providing proactive and compassionate solutions to complex community challenges.

The Homeless Engagement Alternatives Liaison (HEAL) Team will continue its work connecting individuals experiencing homelessness with resources and support to help them transition into stable housing. The Holistic Outreach Promoting Engagement (HOPE) Team will provide crisis intervention and de-escalation support for individuals experiencing mental health crises, diverting them from the criminal justice system and connecting them with appropriate care.

Community Service Officers (CSOs) will respond to non-emergency calls, freeing up sworn officers to focus on more serious crimes. These officers will also play a vital role in community outreach and engagement, building relationships with residents and businesses.

Designated co-responders, who are mental health professionals, will partner with police officers to respond to calls involving individuals experiencing mental health crises, providing on-scene assessment and intervention to de-escalate situations and connect individuals with the care they need.

Libraries will continue to be havens of safety and support, with funding allocated for social work support and security coordination at all branches.

Resources for Access, Infrastructure, Community and Economic Development

The City's adopted budget also prioritizes resources for access, infrastructure, and community and economic development.

Funding for street maintenance and facility projects will help support a portion of much needed road repairs, sidewalk improvements, and upgrades to public facilities.

Remaining committed to increasing the availability of affordable housing across the community, the City has incentivized the development of affordable housing units and is providing rental assistance to low-income residents.

Economic development is also a key focus for the City, with the adopted budget supporting job training and apprenticeship programs, small businesses, initiatives to attract new businesses to Tacoma, and revitalization efforts in commercial corridors.

While the City faces the difficult decision of closing temporary and emergency shelters in June 2025 in its adopted budget due to the expiration of federal funding, it is actively seeking additional state funding to address the ongoing challenges of housing and homelessness.

Details on the City's adopted budget, including the process to develop it, will be posted soon at cityoftacoma.org/budgetdevelopment.

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Statements From Mayor and Council on the City of Tacoma's Adopted Budget

Mayor Victoria Woodards

"During my time in elected leadership, this budget has been one of the most challenging. It has forced hard conversations, surfaced community demands for services, and an acknowledgement of the undeniable reality of our future financial situation. With the passing of this budget, this Council has addressed competing demands and showed leadership to ensure that we are providing the most essential services. Next year will present its own set of challenges, but I believe we will navigate them together and emerge stronger, continuing to build a safe, prosperous, sustainable, and resilient city."

Deputy Mayor John Hines

"It is critical that we work to increase the public's trust in our governance, and I believe this budget is a step in that direction. This budget reflects the values of our community and that we continue providing essential services to meet our residents' needs. As we have worked to develop the budget, I have been focused on ensuring that our firefighters, police officers, and the staff of our many important community programs have what they need to succeed. Their work is essential to the well-being of our residents, and we also have a responsibility to take care of them and limit the burdens they face while serving our community. This is why I championed efforts to provide additional funding for our Fire Department and I am very happy that we were able to reach an agreement on increasing their budget. I am also very pleased that we are continuing our robust commitment to cleaning up litter, trash, and graffiti through our Tidy-Up Tacoma program. I hear frequently from residents that public health, public safety, and protecting our environment are top priorities, and this budget positions us to make progress on all these topics and I look forward to continued work on these priorities in the years ahead."

District 2 Council Member Sarah Rumbaugh

"Public safety is one of our number one jobs as a City Council. That's why two-thirds of the budget goes to our Police and Fire Departments, and why I supported further investments in our Fire Department. While I'm not happy with everything in the budget, I will closely track our public safety staffing needs and will be a champion in our mid-biennium budget adjustment to make sure necessary resources are identified. I wish we had more revenue to support all of the needs of our community, and recognize the critical work our community advisory commissions, like the Human Services Commission, did to bring forward funding recommendations for human service providers. This work is so important. I am also proud of one-time investments we are making, including supporting the downtown business community by contributing one more year's funding for a Retail Advocate, and for allocating funding to Rebuilding Hope, Sexual Assault Center for Pierce County's capital campaign."

District 3 Council Member Jamika Scott

"I am very pleased that we were able to come together as a Council to not only take an important step toward decreasing our structural deficit, but to also ensure our Fire Department has what it needs to continue providing essential services. I was also proud to advance important investments in our arts community. Tacoma is a city full of creative individuals and their work not only helps to fuel important parts of our identity as a city, but also our local economy. In addition, this budget provides important support for non-profit organizations that we rely on to help assist families and our most vulnerable community members."

District 4 Council Member Sandesh Sadalge

"This year the City of Tacoma faced a very difficult $24 million deficit and a structural deficit that will exacerbate over time. As a Council, we made the extremely difficult choice to face the structural deficit head-on and make the fiscally responsible decision to reduce ongoing costs in the budget. This is not something I, or the City Council, take lightly. This budget will eliminate staff positions, which will impact dedicated employees whose work improves the lives of the residents of Tacoma. These budget cuts will impact our service levels and, as we will discuss in the new year, will require eliminating programs that serve the people of Tacoma. Despite these challenges, we are continuing to advance our community's priorities in this budget, especially by funding community safety above all else. We also are allocating $1 million in funds for Vision Zero projects to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries, which disproportionately impact the residents of District 4. I sponsored funds to provide a more robust transition period to our new senior services which will enhance and expand programming for seniors across Tacoma. We also continue to invest in youth violence reduction programs and other programs that make us a healthier community. This budget serves the needs of our community with the resources we have."

District 5 Council Member Joe Bushnell

"The Tacoma City Council passed a budget that led with our values to be responsible stewards of public funds. This required us to make deep cuts to our General Fund in order to safeguard our future. Every service the City provides is critical to our community, and made possible by outstanding, dedicated staff. I want to acknowledge how difficult it is for our staff when there is a reduction in positions at the City, and affirm that their work and service is valued and meaningful. It is important to recognize that despite the impacts of rising inflation and a contracting economy that have tipped our finances out of balance in a long-term way, approximately two-thirds of our General Fund budget is dedicated to keeping our community safe. I also co-sponsored, with Council Member Scott, an additional $2.5 million in one-time funding to support staffing in the fire department to address concerns around staff burnout and brown-outs of fire stations. Going forward, I will continue to dedicate myself to addressing the structural deficit we face. My hope is together we can identify and pursue revenue options that allow us to preserve the programs that help Tacoma thrive."

At-Large Position 6 Council Member Kiara Daniels

"Developing the City's budget is one of the most important duties we have as Council Members, and we have had to make very difficult decisions this year to begin addressing our structural deficit. I am especially disappointed that we are making reductions in personnel, and I want to stress how deeply I value the people who choose to use their skills in service to our city. It is of vital importance that we work on exploring new revenue strategies and that we think creatively about how to preserve jobs and ensure our community has all the services it needs as we continue to navigate our structural deficit. I also plan to advance discussions for a new levy for our Fire Department so that we can ensure our firefighters have the resources they require. While we have made difficult decisions, I am pleased that we were able to provide some initial funding for our new Business Safety and Resilience Program without needing further reductions to personnel. I look forward to championing this program in the year ahead and believe it is vital for strengthening local businesses, responding to their needs, and ensuring our local economy is thriving."

At-Large Position 7 Council Member Olgy Diaz

"While I voted for the final 2025-2026 biennial budget, the budget that passed on Tuesday directs $4.7 million in unidentified programmatic cuts. I voted against the motion to commit to cuts without first identifying what items would be removed from the budget. This approach to budgeting puts at risk items that we appear to fund, making it impossible to celebrate the inclusion of urban forestry enhancements and our alternative response efforts due to the risk they will be defunded in the new year. While it does not go as far as I would have preferred, I do appreciate that this budget starts to address the needs we see in our Fire Department and for community safety. I also see that we need the State Legislature to provide more revenue options, especially progressive revenue options, for cities like Tacoma to address our structural deficit so we can meet our community's expectation for services. This budget also highlights how important our dedicated revenue sources are so that not all of our community priorities have to compete for General Fund dollars. Now more than ever, this General Fund structural deficit highlights the impact of dedicated funds for mental health and chemical dependency, affordable housing, Tacoma Creates, the Streets Initiative, Tidy-Up Tacoma, and more."

At-Large Position 8 Council Member Kristina Walker

"This was a difficult budget, but there are many important investments in it. I am pleased that we have been able to demonstrate the strength of our commitment to our Vision Zero goals and multimodal transportation in this biennial budget. Not only have we taken robust steps on transportation issues, but I believe this budget also reflects our dedication to advancing the Climate Action Plan and supporting exceptional work going on in our community. This budget provides robust funding for public safety resources, including increasing the Fire Department's budget and continuing to support our HOPE team. While we are facing a structural deficit, this budget takes vital steps that will help us narrow our future gap between expenditures and revenues."