New order brings city departments together to cut administrative delays, overhaul outdated tools, and build long-term budget health
Seattle — Seattle residents believe in what government can do, and they have put their money where their values are, repeatedly voting to fund parks, libraries, transit, early childhood education, affordable housing, and more. That investment deserves a government that delivers on its promises with discipline and care.
Today, Mayor Katie B. Wilson signed Executive Order 2026-08: Delivering Effective Government, directing key city departments to strengthen internal operations, increase effectiveness, and build the administrative foundation that makes delivering excellent public services possible and sustainable.
“Local government is the most powerful tool communities have to shape the city we share,” said Mayor Katie Wilson. “Seattle residents have shown up for their city. They deserve a government that uses every dollar well, delivers on what it promises, and continually looks for ways to improve. That is what this order is about.”
Effective Government is a Progressive Value
Progressive governance is about more than what we invest in; it’s about whether those dollars reach the communities they are meant to help. Every promise we make to protect renters, support working families, keep our neighborhoods safe, provide essential infrastructure, and cushion against federal cuts depends on high functioning City departments.
The neighbors who count on city services most are the ones most impacted when government lets them down, because they have nowhere else to turn. Our City government working well for everyone is what equity looks like in practice.
This Executive Order reflects the second of three pillars driving the Wilson administration’s fiscal strategy:
- Growing a Resilient Economy: Diversifying Seattle’s economic foundation to support future growth and long-term revenue stability.
- Delivering Effective Government: Strengthening central operations, modernizing internal systems, and fixing broken administrative controls.
- Righting the Structural Deficit: Balancing the budget sustainably and making progress toward long term fiscal stability.
“As we worked through departmental budgets this year, it became clear that addressing inefficiencies and strengthening the City’s administrative infrastructure was not prioritized in recent years; this work is critical in stabilizing the budget that supports essential community programs,” said City Budget Office Director Aly Pennucci. “Achieving the financial sustainability this city needs, so that we can keep delivering the services Seattle residents expect and depend on, requires getting the operational foundation right. That is exactly what this order does.”
What the Executive Order Directs
The order charges an interdepartmental team, including the City Budget Office, Office of City Finance, Department of Finance and Administrative Services, Seattle Department of Human Resources, and the Seattle Information Technology Department, with reviewing and overhauling central operations to make public dollars work harder for residents. Priorities include:
- Outcomes Driven Program Reviews: Updating budget evaluations to measure programs based on community outcomes.
- Faster Capital Projects: Streamlining planning and tracking to reduce construction delays across all departments.
- Modern Technology and Money Management: Setting a citywide software policy, updating accounting rules, expanding electronic payment options, and modernizing cash management to prevent deficits.
- Centralized Grants and Risk Tracking: Creating a citywide risk register and standardizing grant compliance rules.
- Coordinated Customer Service: Improving responsiveness and request tracking across departments for the more than 330,000 annual inquiries submitted through the Find It, Fix It app and Customer Service Bureau.
This work builds on the talent and dedication of a city workforce that shows up every day to deliver services, respond to residents, and keep Seattle running. The goal of this order is to make sure the systems and processes behind that work are worthy of the people doing it. When city employees have clear processes, modern tools, and well-designed systems, they can do what they came to do: serve the public well.
The goal of this order is straightforward: make city government work better so the services Seattleites value and depend on are there when they need them. The interdepartmental team will present a clear, prioritized set of recommendations to the Mayor by March 30, 2027 to put these improvements into action.
“I left a city government that ran well,” said City Finance Director Dwight Dively, who served as the City’s Finance Director for more than a decade before returning to the role this year after sixteen years away. “Coming back, I was struck by how much had changed, and not for the better. There is real work to do here, and I am glad to be part of doing it. Seattle residents trust us with their money and their services. Being a responsible steward of that trust is the job.”
A Government That Delivers
Effective government is what makes everything else possible. When City Hall operates with discipline and care, we can continue delivering the high-quality parks, dependable transit, safe neighborhoods, and human services that make Seattle such an attractive, vibrant place to live. Operational health is how we guarantee that the programs our residents rely on will be there for the long haul.
“After almost ten months in City Hall, it is obvious to me and my team that the City can improve,” Mayor Wilson added. “This behind-the-scenes work is not flashy. But I am committed to leaving city government in better shape than I found it.”
This is your city. Your government should work just as hard, and deliver just as much, as the people who call it home.