Seattle budget has $72.5 million hole

The city of Seattle is $72.5 million short of its expected funds for 2010 and the rest of 2009, according to the latest budget forecast.

Mayor Greg Nickels will make a proposal at the end of September about how to fill that gap, including how much of the city's $30 million rainy-day fund to spend.

"The mayor's priorities will be preserving direct human services and public safety — cops and firefighters. Outside of that, the rest of the general fund is really on the table," said Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis.

The Seattle City Council heard the bad news at a budget briefing this morning. It was not entirely unexpected. Members of 20 of the city's unions are already set to vote this week and next on taking 10 unpaid days off in 2010. The employees' furloughs would save about $8 million and reduce the numbers of layoffs needed next year, according to the mayor's office.

The Seattle City Council sent a letter last week outlining its budget priorities. Among them was to save some of the rainy-day money, leaving a "modest financial cushion" for future shortfalls.

Councilmember Sally Clark said spending the city's savings is more "politically expedient" than making cuts to programs, but that it wouldn't fix the problem.

"It won't be fun, and I imagine the mayor finds himself in an interesting position right now in figuring out how to balance this budget," she said.

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com