The Seattle City Council will have to vote on grant funding before the end of the year, after it rejected $12 million on Monday.

SEATTLE — The rejection of $12 million in grant funding for various city departments left Seattle City Council President Bruce Harrell temporarily stunned.

On Monday, a short-handed council voted 4-2 on an ordinance that would have accepted $12,177,702 from non-city sources.

"So, the bill passes...," Bruce Harrell said just before correcting himself. "...fails. And the chair will not sign. So ... OK."

Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Lorena Gonzalez voted "no."

Gonzalez explained the reason she rejected it was due to the $90,085 that would have been granted to the city from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The funding would reimburse the Seattle Police Department for costs of overtime associated with conducting investigations related to drugs, money, and other contraband at ports and borders.

"It's rare that I would vote no to reject money that is coming to us, but I feel really strongly that I can't vote in favor of accepting a grant from ICE that is the overarching agency that does engage in immigration enforcement that leads to incarceration and detention and inhumane practice of deporting and separating families in our country," Gonzalez said before the vote.

Because the council was short three members at the time of the vote, the grant money was rejected. It left the council at a loss for what to do. It could not reject it and then pass a bill during the same meeting, but cannot wait until the next scheduled meeting on Jan. 7 – it needs to pass by Dec. 31.