Despite a $3.8 million projection in May, Spokane officials reviewed data Thursday that show the city’s general fund deficit heading into 2026 is now at $13.4 million and rising.
If left unaddressed, the revenue shortfall could snowball to more than $50 million by 2031. The Spokane City Council and Mayor Lisa Brown balanced a $25 million hole heading into 2025. Similarly, that general fund deficit was projected to reach about $50 million by 2027 had they not acted.
When they passed a balanced budget in December, many hoped it was the end of their worries.
By 2031, the cumulative deficit is expected to exceed $200 million. In May, the budget staff put that delta at $137 million by 2030, but it seems those projections underestimated the impact of rising costs and federal cuts. Now, reserves and the unappropriated fund balance could be gone by 2027.
“Another gap is emerging, and it’s coming at us pretty fast,” Brown told the council and finance officials. “It’s partly on the revenue side and it’s partly on the expenditure side, but once again, we’re going to have to take some fairly significant actions to bring those lines together.”
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Author: Ray Hilbrich
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