Committee briefed on ordinance to accept roughly $47 million in external funding; majority earmarked for SDOT capital projects

Seattle City CouncilFinance, Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee received a briefing April 16 on Council Bill 120,970, a 2025 grant-acceptance ordinance that would authorize city departments to accept approximately $47 million in outside funds and appropriate about $34 million for city spending. Edna Sysich of Council Central Staff introduced the measure and said departments are seeking authority to accept and spend multiple grants, with transportation capital projects comprising the largest share.

The council central staff memo and attachment A summarize the grants. Edin (presenter) told the committee the total acceptance amount is about $47 million while the appropriated portion in 2025 totals roughly $34 million; differences reflect multi-year grants and capital projects where departments request full acceptance but appropriate only the amount needed in the current year.

What the bill would do and notable awards

- Transportation: More than half of the acceptance amount relates to Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) capital projects funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Notable FHWA grants listed in the memo include $8.2 million for a future South Lake Union light-rail station and transit-corridor construction, $5.5 million for West Lake light-rail station non-motorized access improvements, about $5.8 million for traffic signals and Vision Zero-related work, and $3.8 million for Graham Street Station and new bus-stop amenities tied to light-rail access.

- Public safety and operations: The memo identifies roughly $14.8 million in operating grants across departments, including three Department of Justice awards totaling about $2.7 million for Seattle Police Department activities to address the sexual-assault case backlog, continue a human-trafficking task force and deploy an "intelligent risk management" system that uses natural-language processing and statistical models to classify call severity in real time. Those DOJ-funded positions and tools are temporary and tied to grant terms.

- Energy and other grants: Sysich noted a Puget Sound Energy award for energy-efficiency improvements and a total of about $3.5 million in grant-match requirements (largely tied to SDOT projects), reflected in the memo's match column.

Timing and next steps

Council Central staff said this ordinance is the first of the major quarterly grant bills submitted by the executive in 2025 per the city's fiscal-transparency ordinance; two more similar bills are expected later this year. If the committee votes to recommend Council Bill 120,970 at the committee meeting on May 7, the full council would consider final action at the May 13 meeting. Council Central staff asked that any amendment requests be submitted to Tom Mikasol (Tom Mikesall / Tom Meiksel in the transcript) by April 30.

Discussion

Councilmembers asked clarifying questions about sources of funding, match requirements and which departments would carry the grant positions. Councilmember Saka confirmed many items relate to SDOT capital work; Councilmember Kettle asked whether an energy-efficiency award was part of LIHEAP funding (staff said it came from Puget Sound Energy). Council Central staff and SDOT staff did not request committee action that day and said they would return with the ordinance and attachments to allow committee consideration prior to full council final action.

Ending

Council Central staff said they will bring the bill back at the May 7 committee meeting for a possible recommendation, with final council action scheduled for May 13. Staff and several councilmembers thanked Edna Sysich and the central-staff team; Sysich noted presenter Edin will be on paternity leave and that Tom Mikasol will cover questions during that absence.