Seattle Adopted a $9B Budget for 2026. Councilmember Eddie Lin Wants More Progressive Revenue Next Year

Seattle City lawmakers have officially adopted a $9 billion budget that Mayor Bruce Harrell says addresses the multimillion-dollar deficit and issues like homelessness, public safety, and health care, all while preparing for cuts from the federal government. Critics, including the City's central staff, say the budget is "inherently unsustainable" as it relies on short-term funds.

For years, lawmakers have found themselves in a precarious fiscal position because of ongoing deficits. For the 2025–2026 budget, Seattle City Council was tasked with addressing a $250 million deficit. While the adopted budget for 2026 is balanced, city budget analysts predict the deficit will grow to $125 million going into 2027.

Seattle follows a biennial budget system that approves funds for one year and endorses the same amounts for the following year. The 2026 budget was unanimously passed by the Council on Nov. 21 and signed by Harrell on Nov. 26.

Eddie Lin, District 2's newly elected councilmember, was sworn in on Dec. 2. Reflecting on the budget Council inherited, Lin says he intends to bring forward more progressive revenue in the next budget cycle.

Lin raised concerns over potential cuts from the federal government that could leave the city in a position to backfill those cuts. He also brought up the ongoing tariffs impacting the local economy. Lin says there are also increasing needs for social services and safety net and immigration defense programs.

He says traditional sources of revenue, like sales and property taxes, are regressive and burdensome to seniors on a fixed‑income and low‑income residents.

District 2, which Lin represents, includes Rainier Valley, Beacon Hill, and the Chinatown-International District. It's the most racially diverse district in Seattle and has a higher percentage of low-income residents compared with the rest of the city.

"If we're taking an equity approach to our budget, District 2 should be first and foremost," Lin said. "Our needs are higher than the rest of the city, because for many years, our district has not received the same resources due to historic discrimination."

Lin credited Seattle's JumpStart tax as a crucial form of progressive revenue that taxes large companies. The revenue gained from the tax was originally intended to fund housing, social services, and climate initiatives, but it has increasingly been used to stabilize the City's general fund during the budget process for the past several years.

"It's crystal clear to me that we need new and additional progressive revenues," Lin said.

Some of the progressive revenue Lin says he intends to advocate for is increasing the current JumpStart corporate payroll tax, introducing a local capital gains tax, and using bonds to bring in more funding for social service programs.

"The city of Seattle can't be doing this alone," Lin added, saying the state legislature and governor also need to pass progressive revenue. "It was extremely disappointing to hear Gov. Bob Ferguson say he was going to do an all cuts budget."

Throughout the Seattle City budget process this year, a number of organizations from the South End advocated for greater funding for services.

One of the biggest investments to South Seattle includes $2.1 million to the Tubman Center for Health & Freedom, which opened in 2020 and has two locations in the Rainier Valley. The organization focuses on providing a multifaceted approach to health care and addressing racial health disparities, particularly among Black and Indigenous communities, through health services, research, and policy. The Tubman Center is building a community health clinic in Rainier Beach, on track to open in 2027. The new clinic will have capacity to serve up to 12,000 primary-care patients.

"Research shows that when community members have people in their care team that come from the communities that they are part of, they tend to have better health outcomes," said Karina Patel, the public affairs manager at the Tubman Center.

Other funding for the South End includes $900,000 for the preservation of sites related to the history of the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party; $600,000 for traffic and pedestrian safety at Rainier Avenue South and Cornell Avenue South near Lakeridge Playfield; and $250,000 for the Somali Family Safety Task Force, a community organization in New Holly.

Funded citywide programs include $1 million for gender-based violence and sexual assault survivor services; $1.4 million for runaway and youth homelessness programs; and $900,000 for tenant services contracts, which gives funding to organizations that provide education for landlords and tenants on the City's regulations, outreach, case management, eviction legal defense, and more.

Regarding next year's budget cycle, Lin says he's looking forward to working with the Council and the Mayor's Office to build 4,000 additional shelter units over four years and increase the alternatives to policing and crisis response by investing in rehabilitative services, housing, and mental and behavioral health.