By Todd Welch / Herald Columnist
Sound Transit was supposed to deliver a world-class regional light rail system. Instead, it’s delivering sticker shock, delays and a master class in bureaucratic drift.
After years of glossy campaigns and rosy projections, the agency now admits it’s running tens of billions of dollars over budget. The “ST3” expansion, approved by voters in 2016, faces a $30 billion shortfall. Projects that once promised light rail to Everett and Ballard by the 2030s are now in limbo; maybe 2040, maybe never.
Cost overruns are the new normal. The Everett Link, once pitched as a vital north-end connection, now carries a price tag of up to $7.7 billion, according to The Urbanist. Ballard’s line has nearly doubled to more than $22 billion. Meanwhile, Sound Transit is spending millions to “re-align” its plans; bureaucratic code for we’re out of money.
Snohomish County was promised light rail by 2036. Now, even agency insiders quietly admit that the timeline is slipping fast. The newly launched “Enterprise Initiative” sounds like reform, but it’s largely a public relations reset for a system that’s lost control of its own costs.
Every person inside the Sound Transit taxing district — covering parts of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties — is already paying for the privilege. The agency draws revenue from sales taxes, vehicle excise taxes, rental-car fees and property taxes, with many residents contributing more than $1,500 a year in combined levies.
When the bills pile up, the only levers left are debt and taxes. The first inflates future costs; the second hits working families now.
What does this mean for Snohomish County? When Sound Transit runs short, the outer counties always pay first. Projects farthest from Seattle’s political center — Everett, Tacoma and smaller community stations — will be “re-evaluated,” which usually means delayed or dropped.
Expect “phased openings,” partial systems rolled out to save face. A few stations might open early so officials can cut ribbons and claim progress, while the full line gets quietly shelved.
Meanwhile, the agency’s debt will keep rising; repayment stretched for decades, interest devouring future budgets. And when that’s not enough, expect the same refrain: higher taxes, new fees and promises that “this time it’s different.”
For Snohomish County, this isn’t transit planning. It’s risk-shifting; from bureaucrats who overspent to taxpayers who never see the service they were promised.
Oversight lies with an 18-member board, mostly made up of local elected officials appointed by county executives. None is directly elected to the Sound Transit board. That structure shields them from real accountability.
Former King County Executive Dow Constantine, long a political heavyweight in Seattle, has now been named Sound Transit’s new CEO; at $450,000 a year, plus perks. It’s a bold move: the same official who helped steer the agency as a board member is now being paid to fix the problems created under his watch.
Constantine’s defenders say he knows the agency inside-out. But what Sound Transit needs is a professional transit manager, not another political insider polishing his résumé.
Where’s Snohomish’s voice? That question belongs to County Executive Dave Somers, who serves both as our county leader and as Sound Transit board chair. Somers has urged patience and praised Constantine’s appointment. But patience has limits, especially when costs climb and delivery dates slide.
Somers owes his county residents more than optimism. He owes them transparency; about what’s being delayed, what’s being cut, and how much more we’ll be asked to pay.
Sound Transit operates like a government within a government; unelected, self-perpetuating and nearly immune from public correction. Every cost overrun brings new taxes; every delay gets rebranded as “realignment.”
The pattern is clear: more spending, less service, and no accountability.
It doesn’t have to stay that way. The Legislature could require directly elected board members or mandate independent audits for every major phase. The board could freeze executive pay until a single project is delivered on time and within budget.
Until reforms take hold, Sound Transit will keep doing what it does best: spend now, explain later; and hand taxpayers the bill.
Snohomish County was promised a transit system. What it’s getting instead is a cautionary tale about government bloat, political protectionism and what happens when accountability goes off the rails.
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