Mayor Nickels made public today (Friday, Aug. 15) a new revenue forecast showing a growing gap between expenses and projected revenues. The continuing recession in the Northwest will force us to make reductions throughout City government. As first steps, the Mayor has ordered:

• an immediate hiring freeze by all City departments;
• a restriction on travel by City employees; and
• immediate steps by all departments to spend less than their budgets for this year.

I share the Mayor’s goal of making sure the City lives within its means. Over the next few weeks, I will be working closely with the Mayor and his staff and Parks staff to find additional reductions in our department’s spending.

While we are not sure of the extent of the reductions, I will do my very best to minimize service cuts and look for efficiencies in our management and operations.

I’ve attached a copy of the Mayor’s press release and economic forecasting information (charts on declining revenue* and how the revenue forecast has changed*) I received today. Details of the revenue problem are available at the Mayor’s web site at www.seattle.gov/mayor

I will keep you informed as decisions are made.

*Note: To view a PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download it for free at www.adobe.com.