Seattle's proposed 2-year budget would add 37 police officers

Heeding community calls for more police, the Seattle City Council took advantage of a growing economy to add 37 police officers over the next two years.

In its final 2007-2008 general-fund budget meeting Thursday, the council tentatively agreed on a $6 million public-safety package that included the officers and crime intervention and prevention programs. The council is scheduled to give final approval to the two-year budget Nov. 20.

Over the past few years, community groups and individuals have lobbied the council to put more police on the streets.

"Clearly, we heard the citizens," said budget-committee Chairman Richard McIver. "It's interesting because for the most part crime is dropping. If you compare us to comparable cities for number of police per capita we're right in the middle."

While the city sees relatively little violent crime, car theft, break-ins and open drug dealing have made citizens feel less safe, said Council President Nick Licata, chair of the public-safety committee.

Councilman Peter Steinbrueck earlier had suggested hiring 50 new police officers a year, but Licata pushed hard for a comprehensive package that ultimately won the council's support.

"Just having more cops isn't going to make you feel safer," Licata said. "You need prevention, intervention and more visible policing."

Licata hopes the new officers will be placed on bike patrols and walking beats, but how the officers are deployed is up to police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, Licata said. One of the positions would be added to the Office of Professional Accountability to speed up complaint investigations.

On Tuesday, the council will meet again to approve funding for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, among other things. The city has predicted the economy will grow more slowly, but still continue to grow in the next two years.

Mayor Greg Nickels' budget proposal would raise and spend $803 million next year and $813 million in 2008 for the city's general fund, the discretionary part of the budget that pays for most services.

The city still faces a change to the state's business-and-occupation tax law in 2008, which could cut $20 million in city revenue. Nickels is hopeful the state will change the law before then.

In his budget package, presented in September, Nickels had proposed hiring a total of six new police officers by converting downtown traffic positions funded by Sound Transit to citywide patrol officers. He also wanted to create a crew of park rangers to patrol downtown parks and add staff to remove graffiti from city property within 48 hours.

The council added 31 officers to Nickels' six and eliminated funding for the graffiti crew after it found out most graffiti are already removed within four to 10 days. The park rangers were cut in favor of hiring police. The council kept most of the mayor's funding for Seattle Center, including $4.5 million to repair the aging monorail and money to hire more maintenance workers for the center grounds.

Human services also benefited in the council's budget, with several agencies and nonprofits receiving funding for senior centers, mortgage counseling, early education, youth tutoring and low-income meals.

The council also supported the mayor's proposal to spend $3.7 million on the homeless, but where the mayor wanted to provide housing only for veterans, the council allotted half to veterans and half to the general population.

Overall, McIver said the council kept most of the mayor's proposal intact and he thinks Nickels will approve the council's budget.

"I think we're close enough with what we've done together," he said.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com