CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION __________________
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A RESOLUTION relating to the City's annual budget process; stating intent that the City will consider a one-year budget proposal for 2021 only; and superseding Resolution 28885 to the extent inconsistent.
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WHEREAS, in 1994 the City Council and Mayor passed Resolution 28885, which adopted a modified biennial budget process for The City of Seattle beginning in 1995; and
WHEREAS, since 1995, every two years the Council and Mayor have adopted a budget for the following year and endorsed a budget for the year following; and
WHEREAS, appropriations have always been adopted on an annual basis under chapter 35.32A RCW; and
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing financial crisis in 2020 has made long-term forecast and budget projections less reliable than usual; and
WHEREAS, City departments and City Council staff spend a great amount of staff time preparing and analyzing the "second-year" budgets in a typical biennium; and
WHEREAS, given the circumstances present in 2020, the biennial aspects of the City's budget process observed for the last 25 years will hinder City progress and goals for 2021; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE, THE MAYOR CONCURRING, THAT:
Section 1. Section 1. The City Council ("Council") finds and declares:
A. In the exercise of The City of Seattle's police powers, the City may pass regulations designed to protect and promote public peace, health, safety, and welfare.
B. On January 24, 2020, the Seattle Office of Emergency Management announced that the first reported case in Washington and in the United States of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) occurred in Snohomish County.
C. On February 28, 2020, Public Health - Seattle and King County announced the first King County and United States death due to COVID-19 at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, Washington.
D. On February 29, 2020, Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a st...
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