Federal Way to consider sales tax for public safety

Published 5:30 am Saturday, March 21, 2026

Two public safety funding options may help prevent staff cuts for Federal Way’s city budget shortfall this year.

Although revenues are generally up from last year, the city still isn’t reaching the projected revenues needed to balance the budget this year.

This is due to lower than expected real estate and retail transactions, said City Administrator Brian Davis at the March 10 Parks/Recreation/Human Services and Public Safety Committee meeting.

While city staff has been doing everything they can to reduce costs, the shortfall is going to start to require either staff cuts or hiring freezes, Davis said.

A state-funded grant and a local sales tax from last year’s House Bill 2015 provide two potential options for relief by providing funding sources for public safety.

The city has already applied for the grant, but has not yet found out whether it is approved to receive the funds.

The sales tax opportunity comes from the same bill, which authorizes cities and counties to impose a 0.1% local sales tax to fund public safety efforts. In order to have an impact on helping to balance this year’s budget, the sales tax must be decided soon.

The revenues from the sales tax could be used for a variety of public safety uses, including diversion programs and other interventions outside of the Federal Way Police Department.

The city is only eligible to apply for the grant because King County has already implemented the public safety sales tax at the county level.

This means that if Federal Way decides to add the tax as well, those shopping in the city will be paying it twice, although at a rate of one percent of every cent each, which would amount to an extra 20 cents on a $100 purchase.

The funds from the King County tax go toward programs throughout the county, including Federal Way, such as helping to prevent layoffs in the King Sheriff’s Office, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Department of Public Defense. It also goes toward sustaining court operations and victim advocacy programs, supporting behavioral health services including mental health and substance use treatment, and investing in diversion, gun violence prevention, and domestic violence response efforts.

The tax was important to stabilize the budget, according to the county when the tax went through last year.

“This grant funding will ensure that we maintain the 154 [officers] and the additional sales tax will make the police department whole for labor costs and everything else,” FWPD Chief Andy Hwang said, noting that the tax will free up money that otherwise would have been taken from other departments in the city.

The Federal Way City Council discussed the tax in detail, generally expressing concern about adding any further financial burden to the community, while also noting the importance of public safety and a balanced budget.

“I think that everybody here knows that I firmly support law enforcement. I’m very very firmly behind law enforcement. Also, I’m very tax-increase averse and so I’m truly conflicted with this,” Councilmember Jack Walsh said.

Councilmember Lydia Assefa-Dawson said that while she supports funding public safety, with the budget discussion coming up this year, “we are going to be faced with so many other areas that we need to fund” and noted that the “highest budget already is public safety and we’re adding to that when we’re going to have so much shortfall.”

City staff said that the sales tax is important to discuss now rather than waiting until overall budget discussions at the end of the year because of its potential impact on the current year’s budget, and whether it can be passed by the upcoming deadline.

If approved, the tax could start being collected in July 2026, while if it is delayed until budget discussions begin, it wouldn’t start being collected until January 2027.

Approximately half of the entire city budget goes toward police and public safety.

From a general fund standpoint, “if you include police and the court and public defense prosecution and other crime reduction programs, it’s about half of our budget,” City Administrator Brian Davis said.

FWPD Chief Hwang said staffing levels have almost reached the opportune balance and that rather than using grant funds to hire additional officers, the funding would go toward retention bonuses for current staff to have a fighting chance in a very competitive local hiring market.

“If we can maintain today at 154 officers, I’m very comfortable that with the current crime trend and everything that’s going on in the region, that we can provide exceptional service. We don’t need more officers. This money doesn’t mean we’ve got to add more officers,” Hwang said.

The Federal Way City Council will discuss the sales tax opportunity at its next council meeting on March 24 and welcome public discussion and community conversation before making a decision.