Mayor signs small-business package, expands repair grants and speeds permitting

Mayor Bruce Harrell signed two bills and announced a city package Tuesday aimed at easing costs and permitting barriers for Seattle small businesses. The measures and budget proposals increase funding for storefront repairs and neighborhood investments, raise the business-and-occupation tax exemption, and change city permitting rules to speed storefront re‑openings.

The package includes a proposed $5 million Back to Business fund over two years, with $2.5 million proposed for 2026; $1 million earmarked for grocery store security; $700,000 to support small food businesses focused on healthy, culturally relevant food and food‑desert areas; and a $4 million place‑based neighborhood investment fund, the mayor said. “We want small businesses to be able to employ people from their community,” Harrell said. “Our job as a city is to make that journey to owning a business easier, faster, more affordable.”

Why it matters: city officials said the measures are designed to reduce the time and expense that keep storefronts vacant and to give most Seattle businesses tax relief. Council President Sarah Nelson called the actions “a day of celebration” for maturing programs such as the storefront repair fund, which she helped restore after it ran out of money. “We must do more,” Nelson said, citing closures and long‑term vacancy as threats to neighborhood vitality.

City permitting…