King County Executive Dow Constantine speaks at the opening of the new Lynnwood City Center light rail station on Aug. 20, 2024. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)
Seattle Times staff reporter
Traffic Lab is a Seattle Times project that digs into the region’s transportation issues to explore the policies and politics that determine how we get around and how billions of dollars in public money are spent.
King County Executive Dow Constantine will move six blocks to take over as CEO of Sound Transit on Tuesday for a starting annual salary of $450,000, with plenty of room to make more.
Annual performance awards of $30,000 will be awarded if he meets agreed-upon management goals, which usually emphasize timely communication, plus good relationships with staff and local governments, according to the new contract.
Additional merit pay of 3% to 6% per year will be awarded based on Constantine’s annual performance rating.
Details of the pending CEO contract were released Wednesday, a day before Thursday’s formal vote by the 18-member Sound Transit governing board. Constantine’s initial term would run from April 1, 2025, until Dec. 31, 2026, with one-year options to renew in 2027 and 2028.
Constantine, 63, announced last year he would not run for a fifth term, after serving as county executive since late 2009. Constantine long ago named Deputy County Executive Shannon Braddock to become interim county executive should he leave office. The Metropolitan King County Council could subsequently decide to select her or someone else to fill the role until voters elect a new executive this fall, to a four-year term.
According to other details of Sound Transit’s contract, if the board were to dismiss Constantine, he would get a full year’s severance pay, unless he were fired for malfeasance. Previous CEO Julie Timm, who headed the agency for just 16 months, and her predecessor, Peter Rogoff, both received severance pay.
There’s one huge difference from past CEOs: Constantine’s salary will change in 2026 and 2027, but not decrease, based on a future study of “market comparable salaries,” a staff report said. This provides him an upside, in exchange for starting at the low end of the $450,000 to $650,000 range that Sound Transit advertised during last winter’s national search.
His $450,000 annual base pay exceeds Timm’s $375,000 and Rogoff’s $379,000, is near the $500,000 for current interim CEO Goran Sparrman, and trails the $600,000 for Terri Mestas, Sound Transit’s deputy CEO for new projects. Portland and Los Angeles transit agencies have paid their CEOs between $400,000 and $500,000. Constantine’s county executive salary was just over $296,000.
Constantine, who has served on Sound Transit’s board 15 years, prevailed over four finalists who lead other U.S. transit agencies.
The board’s consensus, along with so-called stakeholder groups the board invited into closed-door interviews, was that Sound Transit is better off with someone who knows Sound Transit and King County Metro Transit well, has organized difficult county projects (such as the new Seattle Convention Center wing) and built deep local relationships, instead of hiring an outsider with a steeper learning curve. Previously, the board hired Timm from the Richmond, Va., bus agency, while Rogoff had headed the Federal Transit Administration in Washington, D.C.
Sound Transit currently has about 1,600 staff and will spend $3.2 billion this year to plan, build and operate regional light rail serving about 100,000 daily passengers, along with express buses and long-distance commuter trains in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties.
Among other obstacles, the next CEO will need to re-budget and maybe reorganize future light rail lines in the 2030s or 2040s to West Seattle, Ballard, Everett and Tacoma, which are late and billions of dollars short. Trains frequently stalled in the past year, a headache some pro-transit critics blame on the board and Constantine.
The board recently set goals for Sparrman that may carry over, such as making progress to improve dangerous Rainier Valley train crossings, and form a stronger capital-projects team to cut red tape and avoid worse project delays.
Besides performance pay, the Sound Transit leader receives other perks:
- Payments of 12% into a 401(a) retirement account, instead of Social Security contributions, and a 457(b) retirement contribution estimated at $34,750 this year. Sound Transit’s retirement plans are independent and do not affect any pensions Constantine has earned as a state legislator or county elected official.
- Full medical and dental benefits, to include a $3,300 flexible spending account.
- Stipends of up to $10,000 to equip a home office for Sound Transit work.
- Allowances of up to $24,000 to defray business-related expenses.
- Vacation benefits of 35 days per year, which would be converted to cash if the board dismisses him with unused personal leave on the books.
Like all other Sound Transit staff, Constantine will receive a free ORCA fare card.
Thursday afternoon’s meeting, at Union Station south of downtown, will include a public-comment period just after 1:30 p.m. A two-thirds majority, or at least 12 board votes, is required for Constantine to be confirmed.
Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com. Mike Lindblom covers transportation for The Seattle Times.