Updated October 22, 2026
The City of Seattle says its animal shelter in Interbay is too small for the animals it serves. Its own capital plan says a new shelter should be about 50,000 square feet, roughly four times the size of the current 12,000-square-foot building. But Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposed 2027–2032 capital plan puts $0 toward the shelter facilities project in 2027 and keeps the project’s total at $10.5 million, the same as last year. City Council holds its last budget public hearing on Thursday, Nov. 5, and is scheduled to take its final vote on Friday, Nov. 20.
We read the shelter’s pages in the city’s 2027–2028 Proposed Budget and 2027–2032 Proposed Capital Improvement Program, and compared them with last year’s plan. Here’s what’s in them for dog owners, and how to weigh in.
The short version
- The building is undersized, by the city’s own account. The shelter is 12,000 square feet with 8,000 square feet of outdoor space. The city recommends about 50,000 square feet with another 43,000 square feet outside.
- No new capital money in 2027. The Seattle Animal Shelter Facilities project shows $0 for 2027, $171,000 for 2028, $1.5 million for 2029, $3 million for 2030 and $1 million for 2031.
- The total hasn’t moved. The project’s total cost is listed at $10.524 million in both last year’s plan and this year’s.
- The word “replacement” dropped out. Last year’s plan listed “a potential Seattle Animal Shelter replacement” among the department’s growth priorities. This year’s version of that sentence doesn’t mention the shelter.
- Day-to-day budget is up a bit. Operating spending is proposed at $8.54 million for 2027, up about 4% from 2026’s adopted $8.19 million.
- Your say: Public hearing Nov. 5 (remote comment from 1 p.m., in person from 5 p.m.). You can also email all nine councilmembers at [email protected] at any time.
Why the city says the shelter needs a new building
The Seattle Animal Shelter, at 2061 15th Ave. W, is run by the city’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services (FAS). The budget describes it as enforcing animal laws, running sheltering and adoption programs, managing a spay and neuter clinic, and caring for “over 5,000 animals annually.”
The capital plan is blunt about the building. In its list of upcoming budget challenges, FAS writes:
“Seattle operates the only open-admission shelter in the city and the current building is undersized and has significant maintenance and repair needs. The facility fails to meet the City’s animal population needs and does not meet industry standards necessary to reduce animal stress, ensure staff and volunteer safety, and deliver veterinary services.”
The numbers it gives:
- Current building: 12,000 square feet, with 8,000 square feet of outdoor space, which the plan calls “far short of industry standards.”
- Recommended: about 50,000 square feet, sitting on a 42,000-square-foot footprint, plus 43,000 square feet of outdoor space.
By our count, that’s about four times the indoor space and more than five times the outdoor space. For dogs, outdoor space and noise matter. A crowded kennel is loud and stressful, and stress can make a dog harder to place.
The shelter has already stopped some fixes to the current building because it plans to move. Seattle Animal Watch, an independent group that tracks the shelter, reported in July that six items in the shelter’s two-year improvement roadmap involving the Interbay building were marked “No remodel; pursuing new facility.” Those included housing for extra-large dogs, separating dog housing, noise reduction and visual barriers. That report draws on the shelter’s own tracker. We haven’t seen the tracker directly.
What the 2027–2032 plan funds
Shelter building work runs through one capital project, called Seattle Animal Shelter Facilities. Its project page says it “funds the Department of Finance and Administrative Services’ work to repair, upgrade and build Seattle Animal Shelter facilities and building systems.” The city lists it at “Stage 3 – Design.”
The proposed schedule, in the city’s figures:
- Spent to date (life-to-date actuals): $650,000
- 2026 (revised): $4.20 million
- 2027: $0
- 2028: $171,000
- 2029: $1.5 million
- 2030: $3 million
- 2031: $1 million
- 2032: $0
- Total: $10.524 million
Most of it comes from Real Estate Excise Tax (REET I), the tax collected when property is sold, which the city uses for capital work. The rest comes from property sales and interest earnings.
Compare that with last year’s 2026–2031 plan. It listed the same $10.524 million total, and the same amounts for 2028 through 2031: $171,000, $1.5 million, $3 million and $1 million. In other words, the new plan rolls forward the old schedule. It doesn’t add money.
The plan doesn’t say how much a 50,000-square-foot shelter would cost, and we couldn’t find a published estimate. It also doesn’t say whether the $10.5 million is meant to build a new shelter, keep the old one running, or both. One more detail worth noting: the project page still lists start and end dates of “2022 – 2027,” even though its funding runs through 2031.
A quieter change in the plan’s wording
Each year’s plan has a section on how FAS supports departments that are growing. In the 2026–2031 plan, that section said FAS’s capital work “includes a potential Seattle Animal Shelter replacement, Fire Station 31 replacement, and multiple smaller projects supporting fire and police facilities.”
In the 2027–2032 plan, the same sentence reads: “this includes City Hall Plaza improvements, Fire Station 25, and multiple smaller projects supporting fire and police facilities.” The shelter isn’t named.
That doesn’t mean the city has dropped the idea. The same document still lists the shelter as a top budget challenge and repeats the 50,000-square-foot recommendation. It also says FAS “is currently approved to spend $950,000 to complete predesign of a new building, using resources already in the FAS budget.” Predesign is the early stage where planners work out the size, layout, site and rough cost of a building.
The city has been recruiting outside help for that work. A procurement listing for the city’s request for qualifications described planning for “a new approximately 50,000 square foot Seattle Animal Shelter” on city-owned property, possibly shared with the Seattle Police Department’s K9 unit. Seattle Animal Watch reported in July that the shelter was seeking an architectural consultant and an animal welfare consultant. We couldn’t confirm whether those contracts have been awarded, or where a new shelter would go.
The operating budget
The shelter’s day-to-day budget is separate from the building money. In the 2027–2028 Proposed Budget:
- 2025 (actual): $8,805,814
- 2026 (adopted): $8,194,315
- 2027 (proposed): $8,538,420
- 2028 (proposed): $8,881,186
By our count, 2027 would be about 4.2% above 2026’s adopted budget, but about 3% below what the shelter actually spent in 2025.
Staffing goes from 46 full-time-equivalent positions in 2026 to 45 in 2027. That one-position drop is not a cut. The budget calls it a “technical clean-up” of “an unfunded and unfilled position” that was scheduled to sunset in December 2024, with “no staffing or budget impact.”
The bigger citywide picture is tight. The Mayor’s proposal totals about $9.1 billion and, according to city budget documents, eliminates 128 positions while adding 224.5 others. We didn’t find any other shelter-specific cuts in the proposal.
What you can do
Weigh in on the budget. Key dates from City Council’s Budget Basics page (the city notes the schedule is subject to change):
- Oct. 27, 28 and 29, 9:30 a.m.: Council discusses councilmembers’ budget proposals and amendments. Oral public comment is open at the start of the Oct. 27 meeting.
- Nov. 3: The budget chair’s balancing package is published.
- Nov. 5: Public hearing. Remote comment begins at 1 p.m. In-person comment begins at 5 p.m.
- Nov. 13, 16 and 19, 9:30 a.m.: Committee votes. Oral comment is open at the start of the Nov. 13 meeting.
- Nov. 20, 1 p.m.: Special City Council meeting and final vote.
How to comment on Nov. 5:
- In person: sign up on the sheet inside Council Chambers at least 15 minutes before the meeting.
- Remote: sign up on the Council’s public comment webpage. The form opens one hour before the hearing.
- You must be registered to be called on. Everyone who signs up gets to speak.
- Anytime: email all nine councilmembers at [email protected], or your own district councilmember. The shelter is in District 7.
Useful questions to ask: What would a new shelter cost? Where would it go? When will predesign finish? And is the $10.5 million meant for a new building or for keeping the old one going?
Help the shelter now. Adoption fees at the Seattle Animal Shelter are $100 for adult dogs, $200 for puppies under 6 months, and $0 for seniors (11 and older) and special-needs dogs. Fees include spay/neuter, recommended vaccines, a microchip and initial worming. Seattle residents must buy a one-year pet license at adoption. A dog license is $45 if altered and $105 if unaltered. Seniors over 60 and people with disabilities who have a Gold or FLASH card get 50% off adoption fees. License fees also help fund the shelter’s work.
Low-cost or free spay and neuter is available, based on need, through the Spay & Neuter Clinic at Seattle Animal Shelter. For other options, including Seattle Humane in Bellevue and Regional Animal Services of King County, see our Seattle-area shelters directory.
Nearby heads-up: King County’s new shelter, and an Everett fee waiver
King County is further along. Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC), which serves much of the county outside Seattle, bought a building at 5920 S. 194th St. in Kent to replace its aging Pet Adoption Center at 21615 64th Ave. S. The county says the project should take about 15 months and is “slated to open in 2027.” RASKC is also running a Howl-O-Ween pet food drive through Oct. 31, with collection bins at participating Fred Meyer and QFC stores.
Everett waives some fees Oct. 23–24. In Snohomish County, the Everett Animal Shelter took in 42 West Highland White Terriers and two other dogs after Marysville police seized them from a utility trailer on Aug. 31. The shelter said it received more than 350 adoption applications, and all the Westies have found homes. Now it wants attention for everyone else. On Friday, Oct. 23, and Saturday, Oct. 24, from 2 to 5 p.m., it’s waiving adoption fees on some animals, for dogs that are “Westie-ish, Westie-adjacent, or proudly Not-a-Westie.” The shelter is at 333 Smith Island Road in Everett and is open 2 to 5 p.m. daily except Wednesdays and holidays. Call 425-257-6000 to check which animals qualify.
We’ll update this article after the Nov. 3 balancing package and the Nov. 20 final vote.
Sources
- City of Seattle, 2027–2032 Proposed Capital Improvement Program: FAS thematic priorities and growth section (pp. 548–549); upcoming budget issues, Seattle Animal Shelter (p. 552); Seattle Animal Shelter Facilities project page, MC-FA-SASFAC (p. 572)
- City of Seattle, 2026–2031 Proposed CIP, Finance and Administrative Services: growth section and shelter budget issue (pp. 577–579); Seattle Animal Shelter Facilities project page (p. 597)
- City of Seattle, 2027–2028 Proposed Budget, Department of Finance and Administrative Services: department overview (p. 504); technical clean-up of unfunded shelter position (p. 519); Public Services and Seattle Animal Shelter program tables (pp. 552–553)
- City of Seattle, 2027–2028 Proposed Budget Overview · Office of the Mayor, Mayor Wilson Releases 2027–2028 Proposed Budget (Sept. 22, 2026)
- Seattle City Council, City Council’s Budget Basics (calendar and how to comment) · Seattle City Council kicks off 2027–2028 budget process (Sept. 24, 2026)
- Seattle Animal Shelter, homepage · Adoption fees · Licensing fees
- Seattle Animal Watch, The Seattle Animal Shelter’s Two-Year Roadmap: “Complete”…But What Does That Mean? (July 2026)
- King County, RASKC new shelter updates · Regional Animal Services of King County
- KIRO 7, Everett Animal Shelter waives adoption fees in ‘not-westie festie’ (Oct. 9, 2026) · The Everett Herald, Westie terriers seized by Marysville police progressing toward adoption (Sept. 28, 2026) · City of Everett, Animal Shelter & Services
