King County Approves $631 Million Emergency COVID Budget

KING COUNTY, WA — In an 8-1 vote this week, the Metropolitan King County Council approved a record COVID-19 emergency budget, funded primarily by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The final budget is $31 million higher than King County Executive Dow Constantine's initial proposal and includes more money than the six previous supplemental budgets combined.

“This is transformational — providing support for the mother struggling to provide for her child, for the renter on the edge of eviction, for the business owner getting relief from the new BIPOC economic resiliency fund, for the survivor of sexual assault or gender-based violence seeking justice, and many, many more,” said Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, the budget chair. “I appreciate the ambitiousness of Executive Dow Constantine’s budget, and the collaboration of my colleagues in crafting this budget. Our work is not finished but these investments will help us find our way out of this extraordinary challenge.”

Council members said the approved budget was crafted to support several facets of a post-pandemic recovery, including improving housing stability, funding homeless services, addressing food security and supporting workers and businesses in a regionwide economic recovery.

The county broke down the funding into six key areas:

• $255 million for community support (food security, rental assistance programs and more)
• $117 million for ongoing vaccination efforts
• $114 million for pandemic-related public health response
• $67 million for economic recovery and jobs
• $41 million for county pandemic services
• $36 million for supporting the arts, entertainment, culture and science

Councilmember Dave Upthegrove also secured $800,000 to fund a commercial affordability program designed to protect small businesses from being displaced. More than half of the budget's funding comes directly from the county's ARPA funds, with another $249 million from state and FEMA grants and $16 million from King County's general fund.

In Seattle, the City Council will begin discussions after the holiday weekend on a proposed $128 million "Seattle Rescue Plan," funded primarily from the city's own ARPA allotment. The proposal, unveiled Thursday, includes nearly $50 million for housing and homelessness and $23 million to support economic recovery efforts for small businesses, neighborhoods and the downtown core.