City manager lays out recovery-focused work plan with $5 million near-term goal; council presses for clear public messaging

The city manager presented a draft work plan March 20 that he said is built from council retreat priorities and aims to steer Tacoma toward fiscal sustainability, operational alignment and clearer public communication. The draft groups work into priority "buckets" — public safety, homelessness and making Tacoma a better place to do business — and proposes both near-term targets and multi‑year structural changes.

At the meeting, the city manager said the administration will pursue cost containment, efficiencies and revenue growth, naming a near‑term target "to the tune of $5,000,000" in new revenues or savings for 2026 and noting roughly $4,800,000 in one‑time savings realized from the current hiring freeze. "My plan is to address the fact that, year over year...our hiring freeze has netted to all funds somewhere in the tune of about $4,800,000," he said. He described those figures as part of an initial KPI set and said staff will refine measures with department data and return with milestones.

To address structural budget pressures, the manager proposed organizational business‑model reviews and a multi‑year recovery roadmap that would include a narrowly focused community task force to validate reorganization options and co‑create long‑term solutions with labor and community partners. He told the committee staff would bring early findings back in May and begin broader public engagement by mid‑summer.

The draft also recommends a public-facing cost‑containment dashboard to report progress on recovery goals, with baseline work beginning in third quarter 2026 and ongoing reporting for multiple years. On fund policy, staff flagged a separate initiative to update fund balance and reserve policies to support a structurally balanced budget.

Public safety is a headline metric in the draft. The manager proposed working across police, fire and other departments to improve perceptions of safety through targeted surveys and staffing strategies; staff expect to reach full staffing for police and fire "around 2029," and the plan emphasizes reduced overtime and improved response for high‑priority calls.

On homelessness, the manager said the city will "pursue all available options," including a regional unified approach and interlocal agreement (ILA) with Pierce County, and noted the city recently obtained additional one‑time funding to keep temporary emergency shelters online. He acknowledged limits on the city’s capital capacity, citing that the city "did not have necessarily the dollars to allocate $3,000,000" for a large shelter project.

Economic development elements include targeted outreach to existing industries and a permitting pilot aimed at cutting certain housing permit cycle times by 10% by the end of 2027. Staff said a June checkpoint will establish baselines for the pilot. Examples cited in the presentation included a tenant improvement that staff expedited to enable a local health provider to add jobs.

Council members generally praised the format and urged staff to translate the technical document into concise public-facing materials. "Could we do the shorter version?" asked Council member Walker, urging an "Instagram square" style summary of key priorities. Walker also cautioned that staff should not be held accountable for outcomes that depend on voters, such as whether a streets initiative passes; the city manager agreed to clarify language to distinguish staff deliverables from voter decisions.

Staff laid out a next steps schedule: email the updated draft to all council members the same day, offer one‑on‑one briefings next week, and bring a revised draft to a study session with the full council in late March or early April.

The committee did not take any final votes on the work plan; members approved a motion to adjourn at the end of the meeting.