Seattle mayor proposes funding plan with new taxes to pay for more police

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has promoted that he will add 200 more officers to the police department by 2019, and now he has come out with a funding plan to make it happen.

“Public safety is the paramount duty of local government,” Murray said Thursday. “As one of the fastest growing cities in America, we face serious strains on our public safety resources that must be addressed. Today, I am proposing a specific funding plan for public safety investments that strikes a balance between new revenues and reprioritizing existing resources.”

Murray plans to fund the additional officers by doing three things:
• Reprioritizing existing resources
• identifying efficiencies
• Increasing selected fees and taxes on local businesses

The addition of 200 police officers will bring the Seattle Police Department up to 1,464 officers — which the mayor’s office notes is the highest staffing level the police department has ever seen.

The funding will break down to $37 million more each year — $14 million will come in the form of new revenues, and the remaining sum will come from existing resources.

As for the higher taxes, those are aimed at Seattle’s businesses:

• An increase to Seattle’s Business License Fee. This increase will come in five steps and depend on the size of the business. It is expected to bring in $5.8 million per year. The mayor’s office notes that small businesses will experience about a $25 increase in the fee.

•Business & Occupation taxes rates will go up by 2 percent. The B&O tax in Seattle has remained stagnant since 1991, the mayor’s office argues. It is expected to bring in $8.4 million each year. The example the mayor’s office point out is a retail business with $1 million in revenues will pay an additional $70 per year.

The mayor’s office also notes that the 911 call center has experienced “growing strain.” Call center volumes have increased by 13 percent since 2010.

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