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Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward proposes new homeless shelter in preliminary budget

City of Spokane

The mayor of Spokane has released her proposal for the fiscal 2022 budget. It’s about 11% higher than this year’s budget.

Mayor Nadine Woodward’s budget proposalcomes in a little shy of $1.1 billion dollars. Projects focused on homelessness, public safety and emergency preparedness will see a funding boost. Woodward wants the city to open a new shelter to prepare for an expected increase in homelessness. The mayor is planning a mix of federal American Rescue Plan dollars and local sales tax funding to set up and operate the shelter.

Woodward is also asking for several new high-level staffers in the executive branch, including a deputy city manager and a diversity and equity officer.

Extreme weather events also get a look in the proposed 2022 budget -- including more than a million dollars in new funds for fire preparedness and more than $100,000 for heat waves.

The City Council will hold four budget workshops with the mayor in October, with the goal of a final version in November and adopting the budget by year’s end.

Rebecca White is a 2018 graduate of Edward R Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. She's been a reporter at Spokane Public Radio since February 2021. She got her start interning at her hometown paper The Dayton Chronicle and previously covered county government at The Spokesman-Review.
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