As Budget Cuts Loom, Mayor's Staff Ballooned, Thanks to Workers On "Loan" From Other Departments

Mayors often take on staff from other departments, but Harrell has taken the practice to a new level, with 27 staff on "loan."

By Erica C. Barnett

On Tuesday, Mayor Bruce Harrell will release a 2025-2026 budget proposal that will likely include significant cuts to close a budget deficit of more than $250 million. As preparation, Harrell asked most departments (except the Seattle Police Department and other public safety departments) to come up with potential cuts of 8 percent. One department that has grown steadily despite the budget shortfall: The Mayor's Office, which now has 63 staffers thanks to a steady influx of employees on "loan" from other executive departments.

Currently, in addition to 36 people who officially work for the mayor, Harrell's office includes 27 staffers who are funded by, and technically work for, 16 other departments, but in reality work full- or part-time in Harrell's office. In some cases, these staffers were working jobs in their previous departments that are no longer being done; their relocation to the mayor's office represents a direct loss to the departments they left.

Harrell spokesman Jamie Housen said only 13 of the 27 loaned staffers "dedicate 100% [of their] time in performing work assigned by" the mayor's office, but he did not specify the percentage performed by the other 14.

By way of comparison, an org chart from former mayor Jenny Durkan's office shows that on September 17, 2019, Durkan had 45 staffers, including nine that were "on loan" from seven departments.

The 27 loaned staffers include two top executives. Aisha Foster, previously a manager at the city's HR department, is now Harrell's Executive Director of Talent Acquisition, and Paul Jackson, Jr., formerly in charge of bridge and structure maintenance at the Seattle Department of Transportation, is now head of Harrell's Graffiti Programs and Initiatives. Two other employees, from Seattle Public Utilities and Arts, are also on Harrell's in-house graffiti team. The Unified Care Team, which removes encampments and provides shelter referrals to their displaced residents, includes four mayoral staffers on loan from other departments.

Housen defended Harrell's liberal use of other departments' staffers and position funding authority, saying the office "is designed to best deliver meaningful progress for the City and its residents, including how we manage staff and capacity. This can mean bringing on out of class and on-loan employees who have relevant subject matter expertise and operational experience with departments under the Executive and for bodies of work that span across multiple different departments, like the Unified Care Team. These employees often work closely with the departments they are on loan/OOC from as liaisons and advisors to help drive efficiencies."

Housen said the mayor has the authority to "manage positions within the Executive Branch as to best deliver results for the public."

A full list of the loaned employees is available here.