Seattle
The City has revised its revenue projections downward by $48.6M, about .5% of the General Fund total. This means that additional cuts will have to be made to the City budget. Sales tax and business & occupation tax revenues are down, while office vacancy rates continued to rise and are projected to increase significantly more in Seattle than in the U.S. or in the rest of the Seattle metro region. Expectation is that the JumpStart payroll tax will be higher than previously estimated because the stock market has been doing well.
Council Budget Committee chair Dan Strauss released the Balancing Package, with a significant year-over-year decrease to spending on climate. This takes into account the updated revenue projections, the requested priorities of the councilmembers, and is the new draft balanced budget going forward. The new budget provides $18M in Green New Deal funding in 2025 and 2026, which is 8% of the JumpStart funds after the money for the General Fund has been removed. This is an absolute decrease from spending in 2024 ($18M compared to $25M last year), and also a decrease in the relative percentage of JumpStart funds allocated (8% down from 9% last year). In spite of all this, the City is projecting a continued deficit in the General Fundthrough at least 2028 of an average of $100M per year.. The Budget Committee will have a public meeting on Nov. 12 at 5pm to hear comments from residents on the new draft budget and General Revenue Sources for 2025, including a possible property tax increase.
Port of Seattle
The Port of Seattle has released the draft environmental assessment for its Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) for public comment. The SAMP is the Port’s plan for growing the airport to meet projected increased passenger and cargo demand, avoid aircraft delays on the field, increase the amount of fuel stored at the airport, and to comply with federal guidelines. The Port proposes adding a second terminal with 19 gates, an elevated busway to connect the main terminal, new terminal, and car rental, new parking garage for the new terminal, new fuel and cargo facilities, and realigning the existing roadways. Community and climate advocates point out that the airport is already responsible for hugely negative health impacts on the local community from air and noise pollution, as well as hugely negative global effects from the staggering level of GHG emissions from the airplane flights it enables. Expanding the Port, with a projected 27% more flights, will add to all of these problems. The 350 Seattle aviation team is holding a webinar on the SAMP on Nov. 11, click here to register for it. The Port will accept comments on the SAMP from now to Dec 5.
The Port of Seattle received grants from the US EPA under the Clean Port program, which will grant almost $3B to “fund zero-emission port equipment and infrastructure as well as climate and air quality planning.” The Port of Seattle received about $3M for a study on how to decarbonize harbor vessels. The Northwest Seaport Alliance received a $3M grant for planning for a new breakbulk (non-container) cargo terminal in Tacoma. “Expected activities include completing a baseline emissions inventory and feasibility analysis of ZE technology to inform the development of a plan to transition 40 pieces of CHE and light-duty vehicles to zero-emissions, and engineering and design for shore power. A workforce development and climate resilience needs assessment will be prepared as part of the planning process.” The Ports of Anacortes and Bellingham also received grants under this program.
Elsewhere
California passed a bill to help decarbonize buildings neighborhood by neighborhood. Most policies in the US until now have focused on one building at a time, this one is launching an array of pilot projects to voluntarily decarbonize entire neighborhoods. This allows the local gas company to prune the network, so it reduces overhead for maintaining the entire network.
Ontario tabled a new law that would require local municipalities to get provincial approval before putting in any bike lane that would replace a lane of vehicle traffic. This article, which came out in response, is a good summation of research from around the world (including New York City) showing that adding bike capacity reduces traffic congestion and boosts local businesses.