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Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine has been awarded a $30,000 bonus, and a new three-year contract, following the debut of light rail across Lake Washington, along with record passenger loads during the World Cup soccer tournament.

The 16-0 board vote on Thursday increases his current $474,276 salary to $490,086 for the year beginning Jan. 1, a boost based on wage comparisons with other transit CEOs, a staff report said. The one-time bonus is in addition to that.

“CEO Constantine has brought much-needed stability to Sound Transit,” Board Chair Dave Somers said, citing the line across Lake Washington and this spring’s reshuffle of future project schedules and timelines, which aims to corral soaring costs. “This is not the time to lose momentum.”

He’ll receive a 4% inflation boost in April, which computes to $509,689. After that, he can earn raises of 3% to 6% at the start of 2028 and 2029, depending on his performance evaluation. The agreement can be extended in 2030 and 2031.

As the details were posted by Sound Transit just one day in advance, there was a minimal window for any sort of public debate, or any critics to testify.

The board may fire Constantine at any time if they’re unsatisfied with his performance, but in that case, the new contract calls for 18 months’ severance pay and benefits. That’s an increase from the 12 months’ severance package for two previous Sound Transit CEOs. The board declined to renew Peter Rogoff’s contract, and he left in spring 2022 after six years. Julie Timm left abruptly in December 2023 to care for family on the East Coast and amid souring relations with the board. Timm received a $375,000 severance payout following her 16 months as CEO. The next top exec, Goran Sparrman, retired in May 2025 without a payout.

The 18-member board currently consists of Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello, other elected officials from the counties and state Transportation Secretary Julie Meredith.

They’ve tasked Constantine with taming a $35 billion long-term funding gap that’s caused the board to postpone a Seattle Center-to-Ballard segment until the 2040s or 2050s, while also exploring cheaper station designs, technologies, taxes and borrowing officials hope will save voter-approved future lines. For the next decade or so, there’s plenty of money to operate and maintain existing light rail.

Constantine was hired April 1, 2025, after more than 15 years as county executive and four as Sound Transit board chair. The hiring sparked outrage from some members of the public who called the hire an insider deal, noting that several board members appointed or retained by Constantine turned around and voted him CEO, after a confidential selection process, while spurning four other finalists who led out-of-state agencies. By comparison, transit boards in Atlanta and Dallas announced their finalists before voting this year for new CEOs, while others keep the talks secret.

Among other accomplishments since Constantine became CEO, the agency managed to carry a record 309,000 riders over its 58-mile light rail network July 6, during the USA-Belgium soccer match, with no major breakdowns during six World Cup game days. Average daily ridership has climbed to 166,000 passengers.

A two-station downtown Redmond spur opened in August 2025, followed by a Federal Way segment with three stations in December and then the world’s only passenger train on a floating bridge, inaugurated March 28 between Bellevue and Seattle.

The Lake Washington connection unlocked that $30,000 bonus. Constantine agreed to defer that money, which the board awarded him for meeting various performance goals, until after trains crossed the lake. The project required 18 years of planning, engineering and construction.

Breakdowns across the system have decreased, though the network has yet to consistently achieve Constantine’s goal of fewer than 10 hours of disruption per month.

On the negative side, two sheared bolts caused a derailment of an empty train late Aug. 2 that closed downtown Seattle stations the next morning. Then after the Apple Cup football game Sept. 6, a northbound stall near Roosevelt Station forced a trainload of fans to evacuate, and blocked other trains for two hours. It was blamed on a misaligned pantograph, the arm on a railcar’s roof that draws electricity from the overhead wire.

Sound Transit is also facing environmental questions. Its new cross-lake line is suspected of electrocuting about 2,000 fish, including some endangered salmon, after electric-current control wires mistakenly touched the lake bottom. Constantine waited four weeks to disclose the problem, after amateur divers discovered and reported piles of dead fish to conservation groups, but the agency did move quickly in mid-August to relocate the stray cables.

Asked about that, Somers said the fish-kill incident, and even keeping a lid on it four weeks, didn’t tarnish the CEO’s outstanding rating. Constantine informed the board promptly after the agency was notified Aug. 3, said Somers, but waited to get a better grasp on the situation before announcing the problem.

During a lengthy closed-door session immediately before Thursday’s vote, nobody found fault with the CEO’s performance, but members needed time to walk through the contract highlights, Somers said.

Constantine said after the vote, “I’m passionately dedicated to this work, and as I’ve said a year or so ago, and will say again, I’d do it for free,” eliciting laughter from board members. He described his mission as to “deliver the system that the voters approved, and to really raise up the level of service, the quality of service that people are receiving, to make this the finest transit system.”

Coming up soon, Constantine and the board will oversee final environmental studies of the future Lynnwood-Everett line, and work toward light rail groundbreaking in West Seattle, to include soil studies for a difficult high-rise bridge planned over the Duwamish River. Those tasks are part of a long journey to keep projects moving and revive the postponed Ballard extension, despite bleak financial forecasts.