Councilmember Rivera sees alignment in budget package

Today Councilmember Maritza Rivera(District 4) celebrated the passing of the 2025-2026 budget and its reflection of her public safety and accountability priorities.

"At the start of the budget process, I made a commitment to my constituents to focus on public safety and accountability, and this budget reflects that commitment," Councilmember Rivera said. "I am especially proud of my amendment that added additional 911 call taker positions to be solely dedicated to answering the non-emergency line. That came directly from my constituents' frustration with overly long response times and the difficulty in reporting non-violent crimes. Not to mention that the CARE department tells us one third of calls to the non-emergency line turn out to be real emergencies."

While the councilmember acknowledges that there is more public safety work to do, she sees a turning tide.

"SPD is cautiously optimistic that it will hire more officers than it loses for the first time since 2019," added Councilmember Rivera.

Rivera pointed out that this budget process also saw the city council beginning to apply layers of accountability to the city's programs and services by passing legislation to request information with statements of legislative intent (SLI's).

"I will be tracking those statements of legislative intent closely. If Council can't get the information from those requests, then we can proviso funds next year to get the information we need."

Rivera also prioritized the creation of a North Seattle youth violence prevention hub, restoring trade apprenticeships, and restoring funding to the Neighborhood Matching Fund to address the needs of the district.

"Seattle must work for all our residents," she said.

Rivera concluded that she would continue to be laser-focused on public safety and accountability as she moves forward in her role.

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