Dear Community Partners:
Tuesday, Mayor Bruce Harrell released the 2026 Proposed Budget. In this budget, Mayor Harrell is continuing investments and bold actions to address the needs of our communities and advance our One Seattle priorities. Mayor Harrell’s balanced budget proposal remains focused on strengthening public safety, creating housing affordability and stability, and supporting healthy, vibrant, and thriving communities amidst headwinds coming from the federal government and economic uncertainty. The proposed budget seeks to continue to deliver positive progress, in addition to optimizing use of limited dollars toward key priorities and driving efficiencies.
With the investments in this budget proposal, we can work together to advance our shared One Seattle vision and an agenda that will inspire the best in our city and keep us moving forward.
The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) relies on permit fees to fund permitting, plan review, and inspection services. In recent years, development activity has shifted toward more small and mid-sized projects, with fewer high-value projects. While the number of permits has remained relatively steady over the last several years, these smaller projects generate less revenue while still requiring a similar amount of staff time and technical review.
At the same time, policy reforms related to the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) and Design Review are shortening permitting timelines by up to two years and eliminating associated costs for most housing projects. While these changes will help deliver more housing more quickly, they also reduce SDCI’s ability to recover costs under the current fee structure.
As part of our fiscal stewardship, we adjusted our staffing in 2025 to reflect the decline in SEPA and Design Review activity. To offset current costs and maintain services and needed subject matter expertise, SDCI plans to increase construction and master use permit fees by 18% in 2026.
SDCI’s approach for 2026:
- Redesign Permit Process to Improve Efficiency
As part of Mayor Harrell’s Permitting and Customer Trust (PACT) initiative, SDCI is working with partner departments to simplify the permit process, reduce review cycles by 50%, and decrease overall timelines. SDCI is actively redesigning intake procedures to establish more consistent and well-defined submittal standards and reduce back-and-forth during reviews.
- Maintaining Service Commitments through Process Modernization
Fee adjustment will support ongoing commitments to timeliness, transparency, and customer service. This includes efforts to improve the first review experience and ensure that projects move through the system faster and with greater predictability.
- Implementing policy reforms
Policy reforms mean that most projects no longer require SEPA or Design Review, saving projects up to two years in permitting time and $10,000 to $60,000 in total permitting costs on average.
- Financial Stewardship and Long-Term Planning
We will continue to evaluate long-term service and operating models based on evolving market conditions and the needs of our customers and communities.
Non-Departmental Initiatives:
- Permitting Accountability and Customer Trust (PACT) IT Costs – This request covers one-time costs for the acquisition and implementation of AI-enabled permitting improvement technology, along with ongoing operational and licensing expenses.
- Tree Conservation Incentive Program – This request will support the development of a conservation easement program to incentivize tree preservation on private property and provide incentive payments.
For more information on the proposed budget, read the mayor’s press release here:
NEXT STEPS AND COMMUNICATION ABOUT BUDGET
Over the next two months, the City Council will review the Mayor’s 2026 Proposed Budget. Public hearings are on October 7 and November 6. Final adoption of the budget is expected before Friday, November 21.