Seattle Park District outlines proposed 2026 budget, schedules Nov. 21 adoption; public hearing draws no speakers

Seattle Park District board members heard a briefing on the proposed 2026 Seattle Park District budget and opened a public hearing on revenue sources and a potential 2026 property tax increase on July 8; no members of the public spoke during the hearing and the board scheduled final adoption for Nov. 21, 2025.

The proposed 2026 Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) budget covers nearly $360,000,000 across all funds, SPR staff said. The proposal includes an operating budget of about $272,000,000 and a capital budget of about $88,000,000. "We believe public serving organizations work best when they are purpose driven and guided by defining principles," said Ap Diaz, superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation, during the briefing.

Why this matters: SPR staff said the Park District is being used as a flexible funding source to preserve core services and to help the city manage an overall general-fund shortfall and rising costs. The proposal would use one-time Park District realignments to cover roughly $7,500,000 of services that were planned to be supported by the general fund in the 2026 endorsed budget.

Key budget details presented - Total across all SPR funds: nearly $360,000,000 (2026 proposed). - Operating budget: about $272,000,000 (approximately 76% of total SPR budget, per staff presentation). - Capital budget: about $88,000,000, supported by Park District funds and real estate excise taxes, staff said. - The Park District financial plan shown in the briefing does not include approximately $7,600,000 previously appropriated for Seattle Center waterfront operations; that amount was excluded from the Park District slide used for context.

Staff described how the Park District would support general-fund savings and project timing changes: - A one-time realignment of Park District funding of roughly $7,500,000 would offset general-fund costs in 2026. - About $4,000,000 of that is achieved by shifting planned debt service for five community-center renovation projects from 2026 into 2027 to match project schedules, SPR said. - SPR staff said the 2026 endorsed budget had assumed issuance of $151,000,000 in bond funding for community-center projects and related contingency and assumed approximately $6,700,000 in appropriation to cover related debt service. - The proposed budget would allocate $2,700,000 directly to Green Lake Evans Pool to continue planning and design work in 2026; staff said this approach aligns with FAS practice to limit debt financing for the planning phase. - SPR also flagged a planned increase in bond funding for the Green Lake Evans Pool project (not a 2026 appropriation) so the project could proceed in a single phase, according to the presentation. - A remaining $3,500,000 general-fund offset is supported by a one-time reallocation of Park District underspend tied to a lower-than-forecast AWI retroactive payment in 2022 and citywide hiring-freeze savings, staff said.

Technical and non-service changes SPR staff described two budget-neutral technical adjustments in the proposed 2026 package: additional human-resources and accounting staffing capacity funded by a CPI true-up against 2026 assumptions, and a rightsizing of budget to support a partnership with the city's Finance and Administrative Services (FAS) animal-control officers to assist with off-leash-area compliance. Staff said these changes are technical only and do not change service levels.

Program-level questions from board members Board members asked staff for specifics about several programs and projects during the briefing. Councilmember (Board member) Kettle thanked staff for on-the-ground responsiveness, citing David Rogers Park tree cleanup and asking for continued schedule updates for community-center projects such as Queen Anne Community Center. "That kind of work, by the way, makes a big difference. It shows that parks is on it," Kettle said.

Board member Rivera asked about the "teen programming" line item and whether it includes teen nights and teen life centers. Michelle Finnegan, senior deputy superintendent, said that the teen programming line includes operations for three teen life centers (Meadowbrook, Garfield and Southwest), late-night services that operate at those facilities, related community-center programming across neighborhoods and smaller programs such as a teen musical. Finnegan said teens may access any of the three life centers and staff suggested additional outreach to ensure teens know where they can go.

Planned resolutions and tax-rate information SPR staff told the board the Nov. 21 meeting will include four budget-related resolutions for board action: a short budget resolution adopting the district budget by business lines of service (Resolution 75, described as the standard budget resolution); a short property-tax resolution authorizing a property-tax increase per the adopted six-year financial plan (Resolution 76); a long property-tax resolution setting and approving the 2026 tax rate (Resolution 77); and a resolution setting park-district board meeting dates in 2026 (Resolution 78). Staff named the proposed 2026 meeting dates for the Park District board as Tuesday, June 16; Tuesday, Oct. 20; and Friday, Nov. 20, but said dates can be changed.

During the briefing, staff said the 2026 tax rate "point is 44¢. Yes," and they provided an estimated homeowner impact of $389 annually. The board did not adopt the resolutions at the July 8 meeting; final adoption was scheduled for the Nov. 21, 2025 meeting.

Public hearing and next steps Board president Joy Hollingsworth opened a public hearing on revenue sources for the operational and capital budgets and on a potential property-tax increase; no in-person or online speakers registered. "We have no public commenters for the public hearing today," a clerk said during the hearing. With no public testimony, the board closed the hearing.

The board concluded the session after agreeing that adoption of the final 2026 Seattle Park District budget is scheduled for Nov. 21, 2025. Staff indicated the budget package assumes the bond issuance and debt-service assumptions noted in the presentation; those assumptions and the four resolutions described above will be before the board for formal action in November.