Spokane mayor’s budget proposal has fewer layoffs than originally projected

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown released her proposed city budget for the year ahead on Monday, including nearly 20 cut positions – though City Hall continues to remain mostly mum on which positions or even which departments they’re contained in, citing the need to notify employees and conclude discussions with city labor unions.

“Budget days are hard days, so I just want to say to all of the city employees…hang in there,” said City Administrator Alexander Scott shortly before the budget was released to the Spokane City Council.

The 2026 budget – technically an adjustment to the 2025-2026 biennial budget after the city switched to two-year budgets last year – has been strained by a $13 million projected deficit driven primarily by lower-than-projected revenue and the continued growth of city wages outpacing the tax base.

The mayor warned staff earlier this month that 30-50 positions may need to be cut in order to balance the books, though the budget proposal released Monday contained only a reduction of 19.5 full-time equivalents.

The budget proposal does show which city divisions will see a reduction in positions, though the changes are muddied by the proposed creation of a new Transportation and Sustainability Division and the transfer of 121 positions to staff it.

Those transfers appear to include 101 reduced positions in the city’s Public Works and Utilities Division and 19 reduced from the Community and Economic Development Division, as well as the new division’s director, Jon Snyder, who will be pulled from the mayor’s office.

Other listed reductions include four FTEs removed from communications and marketing, 3.2 removed from finance and administration, 4.9 removed from housing and human services, 4 removed from the office of the mayor (one of whom is Snyder) and two removed from police. The mayor committed to not lay off any uniformed member of the police department, though these reductions could be administrative staff.

The mayor’s proposed budget does not remove any positions from the Spokane City Council, though Council President Betsy Wilkerson previously told The Spokesman-Review that the legislative body was considering cuts. The council is currently mulling an ordinance to give the council president authority to unilaterally make those layoff decisions; some of the council’s core staff currently require a supermajority vote to be laid off.