The proposed $9 billion 2026 budget presented by Mayor Bruce Harrell today is contingent on a variety of things, not just the City Council’s review, revision, and approval process. As noted by city budget director Dan Eder in a media briefing before the mayor’s proposal went public, the plan’s status as a “balanced budget” depends on approval of some proposed taxes, like the so-called “ Seattle Shield ” tax and the expanded Families, Education, Preschool, Promise levy , both of which go to voters on the November ballot, plus the one-tenth of a cent “public-safety sales tax” the Legislature gave local governments the authority to charge.

The city had already done some belt-tightening when financial forecasts looked ever-gloomier, Eder said:

While almost half the full $9 bill

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