Coronavirus pandemic could leave as much as $300M hole in Seattle budget

SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan says new projections show the coronavirus pandemic may cause the city to collect $210 million to $300 million less than expected in tax revenue this year.

That could impact funding for parks, libraries, and police.

In February, the city’s economic outlook was optimistic, but with the coronavirus pandemic shutting down many businesses and drastically reducing customers of ones that remain open, that’s no longer the case.

“This is of a proportion that the city has not seen in many, many generations. It's some factors higher even than the recession of 2008,” said Durkan.

It could also cost the city up to 65,000 jobs.

“It’s unprecedented both in the scope and scale of this disease, but also in the challenge that we are facing as a city,” Durkan said Tuesday.

The city’s Budget Office Director Ben Noble projected best and worst-case scenarios. He said there’s a 45% chance Seattle will experience a rapid recovery from COVID-19, but even then, the city could lose 65,000 jobs.

“(With) the less pessimistic scenario, we're still looking at very significant levels of unemployment,” said Noble.

Noble’s slow recovery projection predicts about 170,000 jobs lost and an 18% unemployment rate.

“This is not just a 2020 challenge. The impacts on the economy are reasonably forecast to last a good deal of time here. In the more pessimistic scenario, even in 2024 we're not back to where we would have otherwise been,” said Noble.

While the road to financial recovery may take years, the city said it has a few rainy day funds totaling more than $120 million that were specifically set aside for emergencies.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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