The King County Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee on Sept. 10 voted 7-0 to forward to the full council an ordinance that would add $2.4 million to an existing loan from King County to the Pacific Science Center Foundation, bringing the total loan amount to $14 million. The committee meeting took place at the King County Courthouse and online.

Committee staff said the loan is secured by future deferred local sales-and-use-tax repayments tied to the construction of Climate Pledge Arena and its practice facility in Northgate. April Sanders, council policy staff, summarized the file and said state law directed half of the repayment of deferred local sales-and-use taxes to the Pacific Science Center Foundation for capital work for youth educational programming. Sanders said the Legislature initially guaranteed proceeds to PacSci and that the county previously made a loan of $11.6 million when estimates of the deferred tax receipts were uncertain.

The staff report said construction of the arena is complete and that actual deferred-tax receipts have exceeded earlier estimates, prompting PacSci’s request for an additional $2.4 million based on conservative estimates of receipts for 2026–2029. Sanders said the second amendment would authorize the executive to add $2.4 million to the loan and remit the funds to the foundation within 30 days after the ordinance becomes effective. She also noted the loan must be repaid over eight years from the deferred tax receipts and that, consistent with the original agreement, any lump-sum state payment would require immediate repayment of the county loan balance.

Braden Segua, government affairs manager for the Pacific Science Center, asked the committee for support and thanked county staff. “This ordinance would leverage the county’s debt capacity to accelerate funds for PacSci that we are already guaranteed to receive from the state at no cost to the county,” Segua said in public comment.

Council members asked no substantive questions of staff and then called the roll. The clerk recorded seven ayes and no votes against. The committee gave a unanimous do-pass recommendation to the full council; the item will be placed on the council consent agenda unless a member objects.

Why it matters: The loan amendment accelerates money PacSci expects to receive from state-allocated deferred sales-and-use-tax revenues, enabling the nonprofit to cover pandemic-related operating shortfalls and capital investments without new net cost to the county’s general fund, according to the staff report. The measure formalizes a second amendment to an existing county loan agreement and sets an updated repayment schedule tied to the deferred tax receipts.

What’s next: The committee advanced the ordinance to the full King County Council; final action will be scheduled by the council.