Report: City wouldn’t admit wrongdoing in head tax settlement

The City of Seattle is willing to pay $4,001 in order to settle a lawsuit connected to the head tax repeal this month. If accepted, the city wouldn’t admit the majority of the city council and Mayor Jenny Durkan violated the Open Public Meetings Act, The Seattle Times reports.

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The lawsuit was filed after the Seattle City Council voted 7-2 to repeal the head tax it unanimously approved only a month before. It alleges that during the days leading up to the vote, several council members and the mayor deliberated out of the public eye before suddenly calling a special meeting to repeal the tax.

Some believe a joint statement, backed by the seven council members who voted to repeal the head tax and the mayor, released prior to the special meeting is further proof of what Kshama Sawant called “backroom betrayal.”

There are also concerns that the city did not give the proper notice of the special meeting. City Attorney Pete Holmes previously said the council met the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act and gave plenty of notice.

Under state law, each council member found in violation of the Open Public Meetings Act could face a fine of $500. The proposed settlement would cover that. One of the attorneys suing the city told the Times they aren’t sure they will accept the settlement.

The head tax would have targeted more than 500 of the city’s largest businesses. Those businesses earning more than $20 million per year would have been taxed $275 per employee per year. That would have raised an estimated $47 million to address the homelessness and affordability crisis.

The tax received strong push-back from the business community, which helped fund a signature-gathering campaign to get a repeal on the November ballot. More than 40,000 signatures were collected and turned in — though more as a precaution.

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