Growth in spending at the City of Seattle

Written By H. Pike Oliver

On December 21, 2017, the Seattle Times published an article by Daniel Gilbert and Daniel Beekman reporting on the surge in spending by the City of Seattle from 2007 through 2017. Key takeaways are:

  • Excluding operations that have revenues that cover their own costs, expenses are increasing faster than revenues.
  • The City added 850 full-time employees since 2012, a 12.8% increase during a time when the population increased by 11%.
  • Spending increases at the City of Seattle significantly outpaced those at the other two larger municipalities in the region--nearby City of Bellevue and the City of Tacoma to the south.
  • John Wilson, the Assessor for King County (in which Seattle is located) warns that the extent to which the City of Seattle has been raising taxes is not sustainable.
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H. Pike Oliver

H. Pike Oliver focuses on master-planned communities. He is co-author of Transforming the Irvine Ranch: Joan Irvine, William Pereira, Ray Watson, and THE BIG PLAN, published by Routledge in 2022.

Early in his career, Pike worked for public agencies, including the California Governor's Office of Planning and Research, where he was a principal contributor to An Urban Strategy for California. For the next three decades, he was involved in master-planned development on the Irvine Ranch in Southern California, as well as other properties in western North America and abroad.

Beginning in 2009, Pike taught real estate development at Cornell University and directed the undergraduate program in Urban and Regional Studies. He relocated to Seattle in 2013 and, from 2016 to 2020, served as a lecturer in the Runstad Department of Real Estate at the University of Washington, where he also served as its chair.

Pike graduated from San Francisco State University's urban studies and planning program and received a master's degree in urban planning from UCLA. He is a member of the American Planning Association and the Urban Land Institute and a founder and emeritus member of the California Planning Roundtable.

https://urbanexus.com
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