Expand / Collapse search
☰

Seattle Police Department overpaid $13M due to payroll error, city says

By
FOX 13 Seattle
Seattle Police
Published October 1, 2026 1:44 PM PDT
Published October 1, 2026 1:44 PM PDT

The Brief

    • The City of Seattle overpaid more than 900 police employees a total of about $13.1 million due to a manual payroll calculation error.
    • The mistake occurred during retroactive wage payments made in June, where outdated 2020 base rates were incorrectly used instead of 2024 rates.
    • City officials will enter negotiations with the police union to determine how the overpaid funds will be recovered, though a definitive timeline is not yet clear.

SEATTLE - The Seattle Mayor's Office says they are working to recover $13.1 million in overpayments made to the police department back in June.

Massive payroll mistake discovered

The City of Seattle says they learned of overpayments for 900 police department employees who were members of the Seattle Police Officers Guild. They learned of the error in mid-July, finding the overpayments totaled more than $13 million.

The city alerted City Council in early August, and sent an email to police staff last week alerting them of the error.

By the numbers:

The city was required to pay negotiated retroactive wage increases of 6% for hours worked in 2024. In calculating the backpay for the beginning of 2024, staff used base rates from 2020 rather than 2024. This caused employees to receive the difference between their 2020 rates and their new 2024 rates, resulting in a significantly larger payment.

Officials confirmed the mistake was a manual data oversight and not a system glitch.

Recovery efforts and moving forward

What's next:

The city will engage in bargaining with the Seattle Police Officers Guild over how members will repay the money, as required by state law. The union has already filed a batch grievance on behalf of impacted employees. The City Budget Office and the Office of City Finance are creating new oversight standards, requiring future retroactive payments to receive prior approval before processing.

Because of the overpayment, the police department will need extra budget approval to avoid a legal budget exception for the year.

What we don't know:

Because recovering the overpayments requires formal bargaining and grievance procedures with the police union under state law, city officials cannot definitively say how long the process will take or what the exact timeline for recovery will look like for each employee.

The mayor's office says this error is a one-time overpayment, and only affects the city's current 2026 budget. Officials say this will not affect the 2027 budget.

FOX 13 Seattle reached out to the Seattle Police Officers Guild for comment, and they are preparing a statement.

MORE NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE

Dan Wilson will not return as Seattle Mariners manager

6 WA Starbucks locations closing amid broader shutdown. Here's where

Seattle police, city leaders push back on Mayor Wilson's proposed budget

Kurt Cobain's Nirvana studio hits Airbnb in Olympia, WA

Puyallup, WA realtor couple, neighbor share story behind viral TikTok

New Amtrak Airo trains to debut Sept. 30 in the Pacific Northwest

1,150-acre Benton County fire prompts evacuation orders

To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.

Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.

The Source: Information in this story comes from information from the Seattle Mayor's Office.

Seattle PoliceSeattleMoneyNews