Could You Balance Tacoma’s Budget? The City Wants You to Try

Balancing Tacoma’s next budget may sound straightforward: spend less, bring in more and make the numbers work. The city’s new online simulator reveals just how difficult those choices become when every adjustment affects an actual public service.

Tacoma is facing a projected $40 million gap in its General Fund for the 2027–2028 biennium. State law requires the city to adopt a balanced budget, meaning officials must find some combination of spending reductions, new revenue or other adjustments before the process concludes this fall.

The problem is structural rather than temporary. City expenses are growing at nearly twice the rate of revenue, according to Northwest Public Broadcasting, while Tacoma’s growing population is increasing demand for services. Employee wages, health care and other operating costs are also rising.

In previous budget cycles, Tacoma has relied partly on grants and other one-time money to cover shortfalls. City Manager Hyun Kim’s “Roadmap to Recovery” is intended to address the recurring imbalance more permanently, which could mean reductions to programs and services.

The city’s Balancing Act simulator allows residents to explore those tradeoffs themselves. Users can move through different areas of the General Fund, adjust spending and see immediately how each decision changes the remaining deficit.

There are guardrails. Most spending categories can be raised or lowered by no more than 20%, and debt and pension obligations are locked because the city is legally or financially committed to paying them. That prevents users from solving the entire problem by eliminating one department or ignoring expenses Tacoma cannot avoid.

Once participants finish—or get as close as they can—they can submit their proposed budget and written comments to the city. Tacoma can review the combined results to see which services residents are most reluctant to cut and where they may be more willing to accept reductions.

The simulator is an advisory exercise, not a public vote. Final decisions remain with the City Council, but the responses can provide another measure of community priorities as councilmembers debate the budget.

The first proposed budget is scheduled to be presented on October 6. Public hearings are planned for November 3 and November 10, with final adoption expected on November 17. Until then, Tacoma residents can try balancing the budget themselves—and discover how quickly a $40 million hole turns every seemingly simple solution into a difficult choice.