During a recent discussion of a potential ballot measure that would increase the business and occupation tax for larger businesses and exempt gross revenues up to $2 million a year, Councilmember Maritza Rivera suggested that the city should not dedicate the new tax, if it passes, to housing and human services, but put the money in the general fund instead, where it could pay for anything from police to road repairs to prosecution.
The council sponsor of the proposal, Alexis Mercedes Rinck, has dubbed it the “Seattle Shield” proposal because, she says, it will help shield the city from some of the more devastating cuts from the Trump administration, by contributing about $90 million a year to critical safety-net services. Voters will “choose whether we protect each other or abandon each other,” Rinck said when announcing the plan.
But, Rivera noted, the city is also facing a budget deficit of $250 million or more (the next revenue forecast will come in August.) “At the end of the day, you know, it begs the question: Why not just put all of this in the general fund?” Rivera said. “And as you’re doing the budget process, then you’re delineating where it goes, because we keep doing these funding sources, and then we are narrowing what we can use to spend with it.”…