CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION __________________
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A RESOLUTION regarding the operation of a Council District Fund/District Project Fund as provided in the 2025 Adopted Budget and 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Program through Council Budget Action SDOT 003-A-1.
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WHEREAS, the Mayor’s initial proposal for the 2024 Transportation Levy included a District Project Fund to provide funds to address emergent safety concerns and requests; and
WHEREAS, the final language of the 2024 Transportation Levy (Ordinance 127053) as approved by voters did not include funding for a District Project Fund; and
WHEREAS, in the 2025 Adopted Budget (Ordinance 127156), the City Council established a Council District Fund for the purpose of funding neighborhood-scale traffic safety improvements and other district transportation priorities at the direction of the City Council; and
WHEREAS, the Council District Fund provides dedicated funding to address these transportation priorities as a budgeted program, rather than rely on earmarked funding in the annual budget process; and
WHEREAS, the 2025 Adopted Budget and 2026 Endorsed Budget identify a total of $14 million ($7 million in 2025 and $7 million in 2026) for the Council District Fund; and
WHEREAS, Ordinance 127156 imposed a proviso prohibiting spending on the Council District Fund until authorized by future City Council action; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has worked with the Executive on a proposal to implement the program as described in this resolution; and
WHEREAS, the City Council is considering separate legislation to lift the proviso on the Council District Fund and to rename the Council District Fund to the District Project Fund; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE, THE MAYOR CONCURRING, THAT:
Section 1. The following principles and expectations are established for the District Project Fund:
A. Program funding. Total program expenditures are intended to be equal between Council districts over the life of the program. Yearly program spending may vary based on project scale, project development cycles, construction delivery schedules, and other factors. Consistent with state law regarding budgeted capital project allocations, unspent program funding will be carried forward to support program spending in future years.
B. Project development costs. Project feasibility analysis is necessary to determine the scope and cost of the project proposals and inform whether the project should proceed to construction. The District Project Fund will cover project development costs, which may include but are not limited to traffic data collection, feasibility analysis, any required contracted services, and staff time necessary to assess, design and conduct outreach. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will track development costs by Council district. If the project is constructed, the project development costs will be tracked with the project.
C. Project standards. Projects must adhere to standards, warrants, guidelines, and best practices, including the federally adopted Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) warrants analysis, National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) guidelines, and SDOT policies.
If a specific proposal is determined to be infeasible, not warranted under standardized warrant criteria, or has a higher than anticipated cost, SDOT engineers will strive to provide an alternate solution to address the related constituent concerns.
D. Project delivery method. SDOT will strive to deliver projects utilizing SDOT crews (within Washington State limits for public works contracting) in order to minimize cost and manage timelines for project delivery.
E. Project timing. Project construction is anticipated within one to two years after projects are identified by District-elected Councilmembers, and may be influenced by project complexity, materials or resource availability, weather conditions, or other factors. For simple projects that respond to safety concerns and do not require significant feasibility analysis, SDOT will strive to implement on an accelerated schedule and may coordinate with other SDOT programs for faster implementation.
F. Projects will be reviewed for conformity with levy spending requirements. Projects found to be within the scope of levy funding will be included in the Transportation Levy Delivery Plan and reported to the Levy Oversight Committee.
Section 2. The following procedures and anticipated timelines are established for the District Project Fund:
A. Identification of candidate projects. District-elected Councilmembers will strive to identify candidate project proposals or areas of concern by March 1 in order to receive project development staffing in the current year. Councilmembers may submit individual project proposals or concerns, or prioritized lists of project proposals via SDOT’s Council Liaison for preliminary assessment by SDOT. Councilmembers representing the City at-large are encouraged to work with District-elected Councilmembers to consider project proposals in the context of district priorities. SDOT will work directly with District-elected Councilmembers on the projects proposed for their represented districts.
For 2025, SDOT will provide the Council with a list of known unfunded community requests by district, previously identified through programs such as the Neighborhood Street Fund, Your Voice, Your Choice, and Safe Routes to School. Councilmembers may submit project requests from this list or from other Councilmember-identified district priorities. SDOT will provide the Council with general guidance on anticipated project costs in a format similar to SDOT's Home Zone Toolkit.
B. Project development. Project proposals identified by March 1 will be evaluated and a cost estimate will be prepared. SDOT will confer with District-elected Councilmembers to confirm district priorities for the submitted projects.
For projects that respond to safety concerns and do not require significant project development, SDOT will strive to deliver such projects in the current year’s construction window and may coordinate with other SDOT programs for implementation.
C. Program reporting. By September 30 of each year, SDOT will report to Council the total program resources spent to date and anticipated to be expended the following year. The report will identify spending by project and Council district, including project development and construction costs.
D. Project delivery. Most projects approved for construction will be scheduled for delivery during the following year’s construction window. More complex projects may require additional time and resources.
Section 3. Nothing in this resolution is meant to preclude the department from incorporating Councilmember-proposed projects as departmental priorities within existing levy or non-levy SDOT programs, provided that any Councilmember-proposed projects that would use 2024 Seattle Transportation Levy funds must be within the project scope of the transportation levy and included within the subsequent Annual Delivery Plan for the work funded by the levy. Additionally, SDOT may recommend, as appropriate, potential funding partnerships with levy or other SDOT programs, or with non-SDOT funding sources.
Adopted by the City Council the ________ day of _________________________, 2025, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its adoption this ________ day of _________________________, 2025.
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President ____________ of the City Council
The Mayor concurred the ________ day of _________________________, 2025.
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Bruce A. Harrell, Mayor
Filed by me this ________ day of _________________________, 2025.
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Scheereen Dedman, City Clerk
(Seal)