Mayor Nickels' spending cuts hit Seattle facilities

Seattle's sagging real-estate market prompted Mayor Greg Nickels' staff on Monday to roll out a long list of spending cuts that will hit parks and libraries and postpone seismic upgrades to eight fire stations.

The finance staff said the city expects to take in some $24 million less in real-estate excise taxes than had been budgeted for this year and next. That tax revenue is used to pay for maintenance and small construction projects.

"There are many projects that we've had to reduce or eliminate altogether in order to balance the budget," said Dwight Dively, the city's budget director.

The mayor's cuts mean the city will fall behind in maintaining its new and recently renovated neighborhood libraries, said Andra Addison, a spokeswoman for the Seattle Public Library. The cut is about $1 million — or two-thirds of the library's budget for maintenance and small capital projects.

"It's gonna be challenging for the next two years," Addison said. "Seeing as there has been the public investment in the buildings, we can get by for the next two years, but it's definitely not sustainable."

When choosing what to cut, the mayor tried to preserve those projects already under way, Dively told the City Council. And rather than take on new ones, Nickels tried to put a premium on maintenance, he said. The mayor also gave preference to projects that would help "less advantaged communities," Dively said.

Councilmember Jan Drago said the city has benefited for some time from a strong real-estate market, and it can afford to take a break from some maintenance while the market is down. "Although this is not nearly as much money as we've had in the past few years ... we are in a very good situation," she said.

In addition to the cuts announced Monday, the city anticipates falling $83 million short of its general-fund budget for 2009-2010. The mayor's staff will present proposals next Monday to address that problem.

Monday's council meeting was held in public. Last week, The Seattle Times had questioned private briefings that were under way between at least four members of the council and the mayor's staff. City Attorney Tom Carr said the briefings appeared to violate the state Open Public Meetings Act, and on Friday the city announced it would no longer conduct the closed-door briefings.

After Dively's presentation, Councilmember Tim Burgess thanked him for the "spirit of collaboration" that had allowed council members to hear about the cuts last week — before they were presented publicly.

The plan, which Dively said the mayor has all but settled on, includes $7.4 million in cuts to parks projects. Renovations to pools and play areas across Seattle would be eliminated. Some programs may go, and others would have to seek funding from other sources.

The Fire Department was planning to seismically retrofit eight fire stations that were built in the 1970s. That work will have to be postponed for at least a year, according to the mayor's budget.

"The mayor's commitment to do all the projects is still the same," Dively added.

In addition, the Seattle Department of Transportation will lose almost $900,000 for sidewalks, retaining-wall repairs and other small projects.

The mayor's planned cuts at Seattle Center erase about a third of the funding planned for maintenance projects there through 2010. In all, Seattle Center will lose almost $950,000.

Deborah Daoust, a Seattle Center spokeswoman, gave some examples of projects that will likely be postponed: an emergency telephone in one of the parking garages and equipment upgrades at McCaw Hall and the Fisher Pavilion.

Daoust said it's important for the city to maintain McCaw Hall and the Fisher Pavilion so they can compete with other venues for events.

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