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APRIL 2, 2025
VOL. 106, NO. 14
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King County executive says county is financially healthy, but tough decisions loom
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By Spencer Pauley The Center Square
Finances figured prominently in King County Executive Down Constantine's final State of the County address Wednesday afternoon. He said the county is in good financial standing, but warned tough decisions are coming. Constantine delivered his 16th and final report in his 16-year tenure on Wednesday. He touted his work as county lead, including efforts to expand the county’s public transportation network, especially Sound Transit’s light rail system, which now connects Seattle with Snohomish County; environmental work, including successfully seeing more than 8,000 kokanee salmon return to their historic spawning grounds last year; securing over 1,400 stable housing units across 11 buildings through the county’s Health Through Housing program; and expanding access to behavioral health and drug addiction services through the Crisis Care Centers Levy. King County is facing a $150 million budget deficit. Constantine, along with other county leaders, blame the state’s 1% cap on property tax growth that has been in place since 2001. According to Constantine, if revenue had kept up with inflation and population growth since 2001, property taxes this year would have contributed about $914 million to the general fund. The actual revenue is projected to be about $440 million. “Those dollars could have been used to fund critical programs like behavioral health services – public health clinics – public safety,” Constantine said in his address. Constantine did point to a recently proposed $78.5 billion operating budget from state Senate Democrats for the 2025-2027 biennium. The proposal would allow the cap to increase based on inflation and population, but never to exceed 3%. “I want to be clear: King County is financially healthy, but all we’ve done to mitigate the impact of the
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Report: Worsening roads, lower transit ridership in WA despite increased spending By Brett Davis The Center Square
Just prior to competing transportation budgets being introduced in Olympia this week, the Washington Policy Center put out a policy brief making the case that Washington state, despite increased spending, is failing to meet expectations when it comes to the state’s transportation system. WPC’s “The State of Washington’s Transportation System” is part of the free-market think tank’s ongoing “Report Card for Washington’s Future” series examining key state priorities. According to the report released last week, Washington’s transportation policy has focused on increasing the use of public transportation and alternatives to automobiles since 2012 rather than maintaining roads
and bridges and increasing system capacity. In 2020, the Washington State Department of Transportation, or WSDOT, managed 164 bridges in “poor condition.” By 2024, that number had increased to 229. Meanwhile, the report says that over that same time period, public transit ridership has declined even as the number of miles traveled by Washingtonians has increased. In 2012, the total number of public transit boardings was 220,697,247. By 2023, boardings had fallen to 164,925,647, a 24% drop. Transit agency revenue was $2.1 billion in 2012. By 2023, it was $5.1 billion, an increase of 83% after inflation. In 2012, 85.5 million daily vehicle miles were traveled on state highways. By 2023, that had gone up to 96.3 million miles. The report goes on to say that
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Washington State Ferries has seen a reduction in the number of vessels and ridership while expenses have increased faster than inflation. In 2012, WSF had 19 vessels in service. By 2023, that number dropped to 17. Total annual service hours for WSF declined from 126,980 in 2012 to 105,456 in 2023, a 17% cut. The number of WSF passenger trips declined from 22 million in 2012 to 17 million in 2023, a decline of some 23%. WSF’s cost-per-service-hour rose from $1,810 in 2012 to $2,679 in 2023, an increase of 11% after inflation. The report says the number of traffic fatalities nearly doubled since 2012, including an increase in accidents due to impaired driving. According to state records, there were 438 traffic fatalities in 2012. There were 810 fatalities in 2023, an 85% increase, far outpacing the state’s 15% increase in population over the same time period. The percentage of fatal accidents involving an impaired driver went up from 46% in 2014 to 51% in 2023. The Center Square reached out to WSDOT for comment about WPC’s policy brief. In an email, WSDOT Acting Communications Director Stefanie Randolph said that “we can’t speak to the specifics of research not produced by our agency.” In its policy brief, WPC makes recommendations for revamping Washington’s transportation system: ■ Focus on improving mobility rather than reducing daily travel. ■ Reform transit agency governance and improve accountability. ■ Cut the cost of public road projects. ■ Make funding for highway preservation and
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