FOLLOWUP: Here’s the $450,000+ starting-salary contract Sound Transit proposes for Dow Constantine to become CEO

| Sound Transit | West Seattle news

1:46 PM: Toplines of the contract Sound Transit is offering Dow Constantine to become its next CEO – pending a two-thirds-or-more board vote tomorrow afternoon – are now posted on the ST website, in this proposed board motion. The base salary is $450,000; the contract would start April 1 and run through December 31, 2026, “with two one-year renewal options at the Board’s discretion.” The motion also notes:

A market study will be completed at the end of 2025 to determine a base salary for 2026 that will be set, at a minimum, at the average of market comparable salaries, but not less than the current annual salary. The same process will be applied to determine base salary for 2027 if the Board, in their discretion, renews the agreement for the 2027 one-year term.

In addition to the annual market-rate base salary increase in 2026 and 2027, for each year, an annual 3% to 6%-Base Salary increase will be awarded based on Mr. Constantine’s annual performance rating.

Various amounts for incentives and expenses are laid out, too:

*”An Annual Contribution Performance Award of $30,000 may also be awarded on based upon the achievement of mutually agreed to goals”

*”Mr. Constantine will receive an annual taxable expense allowance of $24,000 to defray routine business expenses incurred performing his duties under the employment agreement”

*”Mr. Constantine will receive a one-time home office equipment stipend of $10,000 to facilitate the initial setup of the CEO’s technology and equipment needs and to further the performance of the CEO.”

The board motion also goes into details of health benefits, retirement-account contributions, and travel. It’s not the actual full contract, though; we’re requesting that. Meantime, Thursday’s meeting with the scheduled vote – which includes as usual a public-comment period – is set for 1:30-4 pm at the ST board room inside Union Station, or you can attend/comment online (the agenda document explains how).

5:23 PM: A Sound Transit spokesperson tells us we’ll have to file a public-records request to get the actual contract. … Meantime, looking around the ST archives, we found documents noting that former CEO Peter Rogoff was hired at $365,000 base salary in 2018; short-term former CEO Julie Timm‘s starting base salary in 2022 was $375,000.

James March 26, 2025 (2:06 pm)

Seems like a huge conflict of interest to me. What makes him more qualified than all the other candidates who applied for this position? The fact he appointed the board members now those same board members will not vote him into the highest paying role at sound transit, how are KC voters ok wit this? Is this true democracy or democratic process or pure cronyism and favoritism, shuffling one highly paid govt position the next? Will we see a list of all other candidates who applied and were final candidates along with their qualifications and explanation of why they were not selected? This seems like nothing other than a corrupt back door sweetheart deal for Dow & should be fully investigated by an outside entity on behalf of the voters whose taxes are funding his salary and ST projects.

HawkFan12 March 26, 2025 (2:06 pm)

If the $450k salary is comparable for other CEOs, so be it. But that $10,000 stipend for home office setup is absurd. Assuming he doesn’t already have a standing desk and two monitors (he does I’m sure), that would cost about $500-600 brand new. Come on!

Frank March 26, 2025 (6:24 pm)

Why wouldn’t he just take metro to the office? It works great and would be less than 10k
Rusty March 26, 2025 (8:21 pm)

King County employees have been remote (outside of field work) ever since pandemic. He’s gotten stipends from the county in the past and has a fully set up home office already. The 10k home office stipend is a slip in the pocket “here’s your next vacation” add in to the deal.And here a lot of us are barely affording mortgage/rent, here’s where our taxes go.

brizone March 26, 2025 (2:42 pm)

So actual performance-based compensation will constitute at most 5.8% of the cash outlined here (not including the value of all those other benefits, which will probably add another $75-100k).Sounds like par for the course at ST after such a secretive selection process.

lucy March 26, 2025 (2:47 pm)

Nepotism anyone? Was this a fair hiring process, or did Dow get the job because, well. It’s his turn to make the really big bucks!

EVGuy March 26, 2025 (2:56 pm)

What a joke.

CarDriver March 26, 2025 (3:14 pm)

ST knows at the end of the day the “we must have light rail” devotees have given them a blank check and the promise of zero oversite or concerns of salaries or costs so that they can do anything they want. And they’re going to do anything they want. They’re “DOGE proof”.

North Admiral March 26, 2025 (3:26 pm)

CEO of NYC’s MTA makes $400,000/year: Annual ridership = 1.9 billion, Daily ridership = 6 million per day. Annual budget: 19BSTS is about to pay Dow over $600,000/year: Annual ridership = 42 million, Daily ridership = 130,000 per day. Annual budget: 3BSeattle voters seem to be okay with this. I’m curious as to how many of Dow’s friends will benefit from huge STS jobs and contracts. Anywhere else in the country and this type of behavior would be investigated for racketeering.

Rob March 26, 2025 (4:02 pm)

How much is to much everyone complains about CEOS making money but this pay is on the tax payers you an me

Sillygoose March 26, 2025 (4:23 pm)

“A market study will be completed at the end of 2025 to determine a base salary for 2026 that will be set, at a minimum, at the average of market comparable salaries, but not less than the current annual salary”! Why wasn’t this done before he was given this position?This salary is absurd!

Bradley March 26, 2025 (4:45 pm)

If this was put to the voters I’m not sure Dow would be selected, especially if the other candidates were made public and experience revealed. Hoping 7 Board members have the courage to recognize the inappropriate this move looks. If not, then they’ve been exposed.

Bouncy March 26, 2025 (4:48 pm)

In a perfect world, we’d find the public servant with relevant experience that’s willing to work for $100k. The reality is that the salary offered is not crazy when one considers the responsibilities and need to attract the right candidate. You may not like Dow or be in denial about the going rate for an experienced executive in Seattle, but please spare me the ‘Sound Transit needs to do better’, but not be okay with the reality of what that goes for in these times. Crazy, perhaps. But I can already see the comment thread bemoaning how public servants leave their roles to cash out in the private sector. You can’t have it both ways, boys and girls.

Me mama March 27, 2025 (10:34 pm)

100%!

Seriously! March 26, 2025 (5:02 pm)

What a BUREAUCRACY, CRONYISM and FAVORITISM. I thought this only happens at the other Washington with the current administration…huh

StupidInSeattle March 26, 2025 (8:43 pm)

I missed the part where anyone in the selection and hiring process listed out the expectations for this new CEO. What are the performance-based goals that are to be accomplished and by when? It’s hard for anyone to consider Constantine to have had a successful 16 (!!!) years leading King County. A hiree who fails up to a higher paying role with no improvements to the taxpayers is malfeasance.
- WSzombie March 31, 2025 (1:00 pm)
  
  The performance goals are “mutually agreed upon”. Who here had a job that gets to pick your own performance goals?!?!

WestSide 4 life March 26, 2025 (6:10 pm)

Gotta love a former W.S. Indians graduate. Go get it Dow, but don’t forget where your bread is buttered..Best of luck.

WSMom March 26, 2025 (6:15 pm)

Talk about failing up!

North Admiral March 26, 2025 (7:22 pm)

Not surprised by the limited comments to this story. People must still be out rallying against fraud, nepotism, oligarchy’s and quid pro quo that occurs only in other branches of government. This move will cement Dow’s legacy as a back door dealing, all about me, only said what I had to too get elected politician. For future reference everyone should at least remember the board members who voted for this sham. They are undoubtedly hoping to receive Dow’s blessings as they run for political offices; how can they every be trusted?

Desperately Seeking Saka March 26, 2025 (7:27 pm)

Remember that $450,000 that Dow will be getting every year when you pay $200+ extra per year for your car tabs. His annual salary alone would pay for about 9 or 10 additional security guards on the trains. Low-wage workers struggling to pay their car tabs while Dow lives like a King is pretty disgusting.

Scarlett March 26, 2025 (8:26 pm)

What more is there to say? No one stops the money train with billions of dollars in contracts at stake.

Hunk March 26, 2025 (9:10 pm)

As a public employee (a PhD teaching at South Seattle College) not making six figures, I can only dream of a 3-6% guaranteed annual raise. Not saying Dow doesn’t deserve it necessarily, but questioning what skills he’s bringing to the table that other highly qualified public employees aren’t.

Libra March 26, 2025 (11:34 pm)

Truly disgusting! Dow has done a terrible job as County Eecutive….wasteful spending and ever increasing drug and homelessness problems. Every time there was a fiscal deficit, his solution was always to threaten the loss of an essential service to justify a tax increase. Even now, he’s working on a way to increase property taxes. Never once has a done anything to improve government efficiency (I laugh when he cites “Continuous Improvement” since he has no concept what it actually even means). He hasn’t even followed the lead of private companies in returning employees to the office so the taxpayers are paying the price. Sound Transit has a terrible record of running over budget so hiring Dow will keep this billion dollar deficit on track—pun intended. I won’t even go into the corruption behind this horrible decision of the Sound Transit Board. Just wish they would explain why he should be paid twice the salary of the Governor as well as the County Executive.

Jay March 27, 2025 (9:12 am)

A dense web of conflicts on interests from him appointing more than half
the board that voted for him to two of the board running for his King
County executive seat vying for his nomination, on top of there being no
public vetting process or any other candidates considered, is really
bad optics. I think Sound Transit should have had a more open hiring process for such a critical and politically volatile role.

Bob March 27, 2025 (9:52 am)

How about cutting the wage in half for the first year and see how he works out at the interest of the people and city. The extras are unreasonable cut them altogether.

Lincoln Park Eagle March 27, 2025 (10:38 am)

Even if it isn’t, this move by Dow and ST has the appearance of a conflict of interest, smelling of corruption. If Dow was honorable, he’d step away. ST has enough of a PR problem as it is. ST has a community Oversite Panel (COP) and a Diversity Oversite Committee (DOC). Do these groups participate in hiring decisions? Seems they should.

Shelly March 27, 2025 (11:30 am)

Scrap him and light rail. Bus system is way better.

Jake March 27, 2025 (1:14 pm)

Nope, we aren’t giving up our rail to be used somewhere else in KC. The funds are ALREADY SET ASIDE.

Wow March 27, 2025 (12:32 pm)

Wow! Thanks for bringing transparency to this shady back door nepotism WSB! It shows that high “finance” flourishes on both sides of the aisle. I am disappointed that in a supposedly progressive city such as Seattle that is so unaffordable this is occurring.

Sorry, comment time is over.