By Liz Steen

Do you know more about the Seattle city budget than a city council member? A journalist? The Mayor? You might.

Below are the eight budget questions we posed to City Council Member Rob Saka. Seek your own answers in the proposed budget from Mayor Katie Wilson, which we’ve linked along with the budget that the city is currently using. Comment via email to WestSeattle@robinsonnws.com with your thoughts on city spending. 

Saka’s staff forwarded WestsideSeattle's eight budget questions to a city communications staffer to answer this week. The staffer took a pass on questions 2-6 due to incomplete information and answered “unclear” to question 7.   

Did we miss anything? What would you have asked?

Read the Mayor’s Proposed budget here: 2027-2028 Proposed Budget.pdf

Read the current operating budget here: 2026 Adopted Budget Book - Edited June 2026.pdf

1. What is, to you, the most significant change to this budget when compared to the budget for the previous fiscal year, in terms of impact on public safety in West Seattle? Saka said the lack of hiring bonuses for the police department and the continued lack of funding for the Fire Department, totaling about $14 million together.

2. Will this budget include more staff hours for the West Seattle precinct? Why or why not? Is there still only one officer assigned to the West Seattle precinct? 

Saka’s office and the communications staffer passed on this question. From our review of the Mayor’s budget, the city plans to spend $17 million on staffing costs through the Southwest Precinct. The Southwest Precinct page notes “The SW Precinct Lobby and Front Desk are open to the public when staffing allows.  If not open, please use these options to report crimes” and refers the public to 911.

3. What percentage of this budget, estimated if there are no figures, will fund city employee salary, benefits, etc? 

Saka’s office and the communications staffer passed on this question. It looks like the city usually spends about 50% of the budget on labor and employee compensation, but it’s not clear if the employees being paid are city employees, such as a police officer, or if the employees actually work for a private company such as American Medical Response, which has a service agreement to provide first responder services for the city.

4. Is the percentage/amount funding city employee costs the same or different than past years? 

Saka’s office and the communications staffer passed on this question. From our review it looks like Wilson is trying to lower the city’s reliance on outside contractors and transfer labor costs to city employees instead, but that is not confirmed from her office. The Mayor’s proposed budget appears to fund a total of 14,011 budgeted city positions, which is a net increase from the 13,963 positions funded in the previous budget cycle. Wilson also proposed not filling 113 vacant positions, and cut another 15 positions. Public records indicate the Mayor’s budget funds 1,250 police officers and adds 5 FTE Firefighter positions and 6 non-firefighter positions for a total of 1,232.28 FTE positions (some employees do not work full-time hours).

5. What changes, if any, were made to contracts with a non-profit or a private corporation such as AMR, in response to public demands for increased safety? 

Saka’s office and the communications staffer passed on this question. The Public Safety Committee, of which Saka is Vice Chair, did not meet for its regularly schedule meeting on October 6, 2026 because of the budget talks.

6. Were there any changes to the Corti contract for Artificial Intelligence software 911 routing services supervised by a human worker? 

Saka’s office and the communications staffer passed on this question. The Fire Department appears to have renewed its $260,000 contract with Corti, an AI system that triages 911 calls, without any changes. The software analyzes callers’ words and recommends referring some to an outside nurse service. A human employee makes the final decision.Once referred, those calls are no longer tracked in city records. The city currently has no records of these diverted calls. The Public Safety Committee, where Saka serves as vice chair, has asked the department to seek access to call data when it next renews the Corti contract.

7. Do you believe that, as represented in this budget, the city’s commitment to investigating and prosecuting property crime is higher, lower, or about the same as previous years? 

This is the response from Saka’s office through the communications staffer: “My office remains committed to making sure the SPD and the City Attorney’s Office have the appropriate resources within their staffing constraints to investigate and prosecute criminal behavior – both property and violent. 

The specifics of how funds are allocated for investigating and prosecuting property crimes are unclear to me after my initial review of the Mayor’s proposed budget.  (emphasis added) I’m looking forward to learning more during the Central Staff presentations next week.”From our review, it appears that the Mayor’s office added a $1.7 million “grocery and retail security package” in the 2026 fiscal plan, which was launched in September 2026. The funding appears in the next year’s budget cycle as well. The fund allocates $1 million to facility repairs, façade fixes, and other design upgrades for independent grocery stores, and an additional $700,000 to “provide operational consulting to legacy markets and research retail demand in underserved neighborhoods.” No other stand-alone budget items appeared to address property crime specifically.

8. Are there any staffing costs that you would like to see funded in the future that could not be included in this budget? 

Saka’s office said, “I would like to see funding for approximately 1,400 to 1,450 police officers so that we can see a significant reduction in 911 response times, proactive patrols, and investigative follow-up.” 

A back-of the envelope review of current staffing costs indicates the city spends about $444,800 per police officer, making the cost for 200 police officers about $88.96 million, which is about 16% of the proposed $556 million Seattle Police Department budget. Essentially Saka appeared to be saying the city needs to give SPD at least 15% more than is currently budgeted to improve 911 response times, patrols, and investigative follow up.