Those two Seattle Channel videos show City Councilmembers getting an overview of Mayor Harrell‘s $8.3 billion 2025-2026 budget proposal on Wednesday. Starting at 9:30 this morning, they move into the next phase, department-by-department presentations of budget highlights. We’ve been scanning the budget (the entire 735-page document is here) for items of note, particularly West Seattle-specific, and here’s what we’ve found so far:

The majority of references to “West Seattle” are in the context of planning for light rail, since the city is involved with station-area planning. This includes mentions in the individual budgets for SDOT, the Office of Planning and Community Development, and the Office of Sustainability and Environment. Then there’s a mention of the West Seattle Golf Course in the Parks and Recreation budget, which includes an increase in the total amount to be spent on the city’s four golf courses ($18 million next year, up from $14 million this year). The only mentions of “Delridge” also are in the context of light-rail station planning.

We also looked for “Southwest” references, and those were primarily in the Seattle Police proposal. The Southwest Precinct, which serves West Seattle and South Park, has a general fund allocation of $15 million this year, and that would rise to $17 million next year. The document doesn’t break down where the increase is going; staffing would stay the same, 102 full-time equivalents (FTEs), as usual the smallest staff of the precincts.

Obviously it doesn’t take a West Seattle-specific mention for our area to be affected. Individual departments also have released toplines, and the items we noted included a proposal for graffiti response to move from Seattle Public Utilities to Seattle Parks and Recreation (whose toplines are here including proposed fee increases for next year), and a proposal for the Department of Neighborhoods to offer fewer community grants. The SDOT budget overview notes that the department’s plan only addresses general-fund spending, not the funding that would result if the Transportation Levy renewal/expansion is approved by voters in November.

If you’re interested in specific departments’ plans, here’s the schedule for department-by-department presentations:

TODAY (agenda): Arts and Culture (slide deck), Economic Development (slide deck), Planning and Community Development (slide deck), Construction and Inspections (slide deck)

MONDAY (September 30): Sustainability and Environment, Parks and Recreation, SDOT, Education and Early Learning

TUESDAY (October 1): CARE, Police, Human Services

WEDNESDAY (October 2): Housing, Finance and Administrative Services, Human Resources, IT

Councilmember Dan Strauss is this year’s budget chair; he warned his colleagues that these would be full-day meetings (starting at 9:30 pm, with lunch breaks in the 1-2 pm vicinity). Other council committee meetings are pre-empted by budget meetings. You can see agendas here and watch meetings live (or archived) via Seattle Channel. Budget documents are all here, including individual-department breakouts.

TIMELINE: The council’s budget review and decisions will unfold over the next two months, with a final decision scheduled for November 21. Official public hearings are planned for October 16 and November 12. The council’s explanation of how you can participate in the budget process is here.