The Great Recession’s Impact on the City of Seattle’s Budget

Stephanie Leiser and Justin Marlowe

Municipal Finance Journal, 2011, vol. 32, issue 1, 143 - 161

Abstract: This paper examines the ways in which the Great Recession affected budgeting in the City of Seattle. The central theme of Seattle budgeting prior to the recession was consensus. The city’s robust economic growth during the past several decades, coupled with a political culture that emphasizes pragmatic public policy, positioned the city to respond to the Great Recession without substantial changes to services or programs. Nevertheless, the recession also exposed many structural weaknesses in Seattle’s budget processes and institutions that developed during the growth period. Many of those weaknesses are attributable to this same culture of grassroots, pragmatic, consensus-driven politics. Going forward, the city faces many challenges that will demand city policymakers to change core elements of the city’s resource allocation process.

Date: 2011
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