Seattle committee warns of growing structural gap after April revenue downgrade; reserves remain replenished

Seattle’s Finance, Native Communities & Tribal Governments Committee received a briefing Wednesday showing the city can use one‑time carryforwards to balance the general fund for 2025–26 but faces growing structural deficits in later years after an April revenue forecast downgrade.

Ben Noble, director of Council Central Staff, told the committee that the city’s fiscal transparency ordinance (municipal code 3.1406(b)) requires the regular general fund balancing analysis. “This is a regular, a regular update on the balancing status of the general fund, which is actually, put in statute by the fiscal transparency ordinance. It's municipal code 3.1406 b,” Noble said.

Central staff reported that closing the 2024 books produced $44,000,000 of additional one‑time general fund resources that can be applied in 2025. At the same time, central staff described an April forecast that reduced projected general fund revenues by about $50,000,000 across the 2025–26 biennium. Combining the higher 2024 carryforward with a modest reduction in planning reserves yields roughly $52,000,000 of one‑time resource—enough, at present, to offset the near‑term $50,000,000 downgrade and leave an ending unreserved balance of about $2,000,000 at the end of 2026.

Tom Meiksel and Noble cautioned that the favorable short‑term picture masks a longer‑term structural problem. The…