Budget Dashboard

To increase transparency and support public participation in the budget process, the Seattle City Council is releasing a new tool, the Seattle Budget Dashboard, to help keep track of budget adjustments.

People can use the Seattle Budget Dashboard to:

• Understand how the City of Seattle’s budget is distributed by department.
• Track how budget spending has changed from year to year and adjustments to the 2024 endorsed budget.
• See how departments and programs are funded, and more.

The Seattle Budget Dashboard currently shows the 2023 adopted budget and the 2024 endorsed budget. The mayor’s proposed adjustments to the 2024 budget will be added to the database after they are released to the public.

For historic information about the City’s finalized budgets over the past five years, please refer to the Seattle Open Budget tool.

View a video tutorial to learn how to use the dashboard:

Seattle Budget Dashboard

Note: the dashboard is best viewed using a desktop computer.

About the Budget Process 

Each year, Seattle adopts a budget for the upcoming year, consistent with the State Budget Act (RCW 35.32A). Seattle’s process is unique in that in the fall of even-numbered years (“Year 1”) the Council also “endorses” a budget for the following year (“Year 2”), with spending and resources balanced over the two-year period. In the fall of the odd-numbered year, the City Council uses the endorsed budget as its starting point and approves the budget for Year 2.

Beginning with the 2023-2024 biennium, the City Council, in partnership with the Mayor, is implementing changes to the budget process so that, in the second year, the process focus on adjustments to the endorsed budget rather than proposing and adopting an entirely new budget.

Example: In the Fall of 2022, the Mayor transmitted a proposed budget for the 2023-2024 biennium. The Council reviewed that proposal, adopted the 2023 budget (Year 1) and endorsed the 2024 budget (Year 2).

Since the City has already endorsed a budget for 2024, this budget cycle is expected to focus on adjusting that budget, rather than a complete overhaul.

Mayor Bruce Harrell is scheduled to release his proposed adjustments to the 2024 endorsed budget on September 26. After that, the Seattle City Council will begin deliberations. Any changes proposed by councilmembers must be “self-balancing” – if they are proposing new spending, they will have to identify new revenue or an offsetting reduction to detail exactly how they will fund their proposal. The Council is scheduled to take a vote on the final budget on November 21.

For more information about the 2024 budget process and a full calendar, visit the Demystifying the Council’s Budget Process webpage.