Interim Mayor Tim Burgess unveiled a budget proposal Monday that funds services for survivors of sexual abuse, increases spending on services for homeless people and aims to create a public retirement savings plan for private companies.
Burgess opened his remarks by acknowledging the pain experienced by survivors of sexual assault in recent months as accusations of child rape by former Mayor Ed Murray dominated the news cycles leading up to his resignation. Burgess then proposed $500,000 to expand services as part of the city’s gender-based violence portfolio.
The budget proposes spending $63 million on homeless services. It would create a new outreach team for people living in their cars and an outreach position at Seattle Public Libraries.
The other novel proposal is $200,000 to begin crafting a retirement savings program for private employers that currently do not offer one. The legality of the concept is in question, according to The Seattle Times.
The majority of the budget is spent on predictable programmatic costs, leaving the Seattle City Council relatively little room to tweak it for new programs. That process will play out over the course of the next two months until the final vote scheduled for Dec. 11.
Ashley Archibald is a Staff Reporter covering local government, policy and equity. Have a story idea? She can be can reached at ashleya (at) realchangenews (dot) org. Twitter @AshleyA_RC
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