City says extra millions will help "people first"

Libraries, social services, transportation projects and a "rainy day" fund received the bulk of $15 million in unexpected tax receipts the Seattle City Council doled out Wednesday.

Those big winners weren't the only ones to get a cut of a projected boost in revenues next year. The council also voted unanimously to spend more on dozens of projects, including building a skateboard park, upgrading Gas Works Park for summer concerts and increasing the council's own budget.

"We held closely to our principle of putting people first," said Budget Chairman Richard McIver.

The budget proposal outlined Wednesday is technically just a revision of the 2005-06 biennial budget approved last year. It contains no new taxes or fees.

The council spending plan adds to a $55 million windfall for 2005 and 2006 announced in September by Mayor Greg Nickels. The extra $15 million distributed by the council comes from recent economic forecasts that are even rosier than projections Nickels used.

The new revenues flow from a surge in sales and business taxes, driven by a spike in construction. But the good times may be short-lived. A council economist noted construction activity seems to have reached a plateau, and building-permit applications have slowed in recent months.

The council plan amounts to a small increase in the city's general-fund 2006 budget of $769 million and changes little of Nickels' massive budget blueprint.

Nickels proposed spending much of the $55 million to hire police and firefighters, construct new sidewalks and pave streets and fund a hygiene center for the homeless.

The council did scrap a tax break Nickels wanted to give small businesses. That break would have averaged about $200 a year for roughly 3,000 businesses, according to Councilman Peter Steinbrueck. He said dumping the tax break was a "reasonable tradeoff" for keeping libraries open longer hours.

Nickels, who is in Washington, D.C., praised the council decisions in a statement. "We love the mayor," McIver added — — a sign that once-frosty relations between Seattle's executive and legislative branches have warmed with an improving economy and more collaborative budget-writing.

Most of the council's spending proposal would go to the following:

• $2.5 million to libraries for books and longer hours.

• $2 million for social services, mostly dedicated to shelter beds, food delivery, health clinics, advocacy programs and a cost-of-living adjustment for service providers.

• $400,000 for a pilot project that tries to link people who commit "street crimes" with mental-health, substance-abuse and employment programs.

• $2.5 million for street paving and other unspecified transportation priorities.

• $1 million on planning for transit options between West Seattle and Ballard and for a catastrophic failure of Highway 520.

• $1.8 million to the city's rainy-day fund for unforeseen needs.

In addition, the city would spend $250,000 to build a skateboard facility in Lower Woodland Park; $150,000 to upgrade utilities in Gas Works Park so a summer concert series could move there; and $150,000 to help the council carry out its agenda next year.

Council members announced most of their plans at a news conference before voting unanimously to approve 84 budget actions. Council consensus on spending decisions were reached in one-on-one meetings between McIver and his colleagues.

Councilman Nick Licata did not attend the news conference, saying he wasn't comfortable with "telling people we have a deal done" before there was a vote.

"The result might not be different if we had battled it out publicly, but nevertheless the lack of transparency concerns me," Licata said.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com