<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hey folks,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Since the Open Data site is unreliable, it looks like our best bet for accurate budget data is the PDFs archived here: <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/city-budget-office/budget-archives" class="">https://www.seattle.gov/city-budget-office/budget-archives</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Here is a mini-project if anyone has time for it. <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uDjqVID4gkBFfatMTM-hUbO-OAzR70Zc1-3GJEFZask/edit?usp=sharing" class="">I created a spreadsheet here</a>, where we can compile data from the <b class="">adopted budgets </b>(not proposed or endorsed) for SPD, human services, housing, and any other areas of interest. I think the years 2010-2020 are key, but I’ve started the spreadsheet in 2008 just to match with the recession, in case that shows us anything interesting. Filling out this spreadsheet will enable us to make a graph like the ones we were making from the Open Data site, only correct this time.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I am in touch with some of the folks leading the Defund SPD effort and they would love our help digging up data and making graphs etc. that tell a good story to boost the case. So, rest assured our work on this will be useful and appreciated! For example, I was able to send along this bit earlier today, which I believe was then passed along to a councilmember via a council aide to be shared aloud during the council meeting this afternoon:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class=""><div class="">The SPD budget has <b class="">increased by </b><b class="">43% since 2010</b>, <i class="">after</i> you account for inflation. (Not accounting for inflation, it’s a 68% increase.)</div></div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><div class="">Here’s the math and sources:</div></div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><div class="">2020 SPD adopted budget: <b class="">$409 million</b> - <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/FinanceDepartment/20adoptedbudget/SPD.pdf" class="">https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/FinanceDepartment/20adoptedbudget/SPD.pdf</a></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><div class="">2010 SPD adopted budget: <b class="">$243 million</b> - <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/FinanceDepartment/10adoptedbudget/PUBLIC_SAFETY.pdf" class="">https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/FinanceDepartment/10adoptedbudget/PUBLIC_SAFETY.pdf</a></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><div class="">2010 SPD adopted budget, injusted for inflation to 2020 dollars:<b class=""> $286 million</b> - <a href="https://www.usinflationcalculator.com" class="">https://www.usinflationcalculator.com</a></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><div class="">Increase from 2010 to 2020, i.e. 286 to 409, is (409 - 286)/286 x 100 = <b class="">43%</b></div></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">- Katie</div><div class=""><div class="">
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<div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jun 9, 2020, at 5:34 PM, Katie Wilson <<a href="mailto:katie@transitriders.org" class="">katie@transitriders.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Budget office director to the rescue, kind of...</div>
<div class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">"Noble, Ben" <<a href="mailto:Ben.Noble@seattle.gov" class="">Ben.Noble@seattle.gov</a>><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">RE: Discrepencies between Budget Archives and Open Data</b><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">June 9, 2020 at 5:31:02 PM PDT<br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">To: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Katie Wilson <<a href="mailto:katie@transitriders.org" class="">katie@transitriders.org</a>><br class=""></span></div><br class=""><div class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Katie – long and painful story here, but the Open Data site is not accurate. I am frankly embarrassed by that reality. Short-term we may take down the site, but obviously that is not a positive step in terms of transparency. It was something that got set up in a rush a few years back and has been neglected since (and frankly has not been a priority in the last few months). I say that by way of explanation not excuse. In the term, the Budget Archives, while clunky, are the right source. Based on your flagging of the issue, I have just asked the team whether we can get something else up in the near-term. I will keep you posted. <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">-ben.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div class=""><div style="border-style: solid none none; border-top-width: 1pt; border-top-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); padding: 3pt 0in 0in;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">From:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Katie Wilson <<a href="mailto:katie@transitriders.org" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" class="">katie@transitriders.org</a>><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br class=""><b class="">Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Tuesday, June 9, 2020 4:29 PM<br class=""><b class="">To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Noble, Ben <<a href="mailto:Ben.Noble@seattle.gov" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Ben.Noble@seattle.gov</a>><br class=""><b class="">Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Discrepencies between Budget Archives and Open Data<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="border: 1pt solid rgb(156, 101, 0); padding: 2pt;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center; line-height: 12pt; background-color: rgb(255, 235, 156);" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(156, 101, 0);" class="">CAUTION: External Email<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Hi Ben,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Sorry to bother you with this, but I emailed the Open Data people first and they told me to ask the City Budget Office. I’m wondering why there are significant discrepencies between the <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/city-budget-office/budget-archives" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Budget Archives</a> and the budget numbers on the <a href="https://openbudget.seattle.gov/#!/year/default" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Open Data site</a>. <o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">To give one timely example, <a href="https://openbudget.seattle.gov/#!/year/2020/operating/0/department/Police/0/service?vis=barChart" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" class="">this Open Data page</a> puts the 2020 SPD budget at ~$357m, whereas the number in the <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/FinanceDepartment/20adoptedbudget/SPD.pdf" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" class="">2020 adopted budget</a> and reported in <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/after-days-of-seattle-protests-city-will-withdraw-request-to-remove-police-force-from-federal-oversight/" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" class="">various news articles</a> is $400m+. I have been digging around and making graphs and there are a lot of discrepencies like this. I understand that proposed and adopted and actual budgets are all different, but that doesn’t seem to account for it.<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Please feel free to direct me elsewhere if there’s someone else I should be asking about this.<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Thanks!<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Katie<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class="">Katie Wilson</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class="">General Secretary</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class="">Transit Riders Union</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class=""><a href="https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=23520a2f-7de29737-2352229f-86b2e136ff17-644b0fdb8c75a238&q=1&e=c19e905a-6ec5-4436-a6cd-f7acc13cf097&u=https%3A%2F%2Ftransitriders.org%2F" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://transitriders.org</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class="">206-781-7204</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><i class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);" class="">The Transit Riders Union is a democratic organization of working and poor people, including students, seniors, and people with disabilities, taking control over our own lives, and building up the power we need to change society for the good of humanity and of the planet. We will fight to preserve, expand, and improve the public transportation system in Seattle and beyond, so that every human being has access to safe, affordable, and reliable public transit.</span></i></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div><br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>