King County Transportation District nears finalizing new sales tax
Published 11:00 am Wednesday, June 3, 2026
The King County Transportation District is nearing a vote on how to fund the King County Roads and Services Division and financially support cities through a new sales tax.
The Transportation District met as a whole on May 15 to discuss amendments to the 0.1% sales tax ordinance, and the district’s executive group met again May 27 to further clarify the amendments to be introduced to the group next month.
One of the amendments that seems all but set in stone is how much of the total $100 million in expected tax revenue would be made available to cities.
Transportation District executive board members seem to all agree that 12.5% of funds (or $12.5 million) collected should be set aside for cities, with an amount proportionate to their population and how much the city contributed to the total tax collection.
What’s being debated now is whether or not a minimum or maximum cap should be imposed on how much cities should be able to collect, and if cities should be allowed to “bank” their funds.
Board member Steffanie Fain suggested a $10,000 minimum and a $1.9 million (or 15% of total pass-through revenue) maximum; she said the goal of this is to ensure “we could lift all the boats in the water,” but only as supplemental funds, as opposed to fully funding them.
Fain also suggested cities either take or leave the money, and that no “banking” of funds should be permissible for two reasons: first, the tax revenue is mostly for Roads, and second, to further reduce administrative work.
Board member Rod Dembowski argued the 15% cap is too small and would rather have a higher cap, if any at all.
Chair Claudia Balducci pointed out that the city of Seattle – the largest King County city and thus one of, if not the, largest contributor to sales tax revenue – would collect between $4.8 to $4.9 million a year if it is there is no cap.
Dembowski also said he’d vote for a banking system, whereas Fain said this would result in more administrative costs.
Board Member Sarah Perry agreed with Fain, saying that none of the cities are in the same situation as the Roads Division is.
The next full meeting is June 12.
HISTORY
The Transportation District, composed of King County Council members but currently operates as a separate special tax district, was formed in 2014.
When it was formed, voters rejected a proposed sales tax at the ballot box, and the Transportation District has been unfunded ever since. This would be the first time the district has ever unilaterally used its taxation abilities, if it approves the 0.1% sales tax.
The reason the district is moving forward with an additional sales tax now is because the county’s Roads and Services Division’s (Roads) capital fund – the budget for all of its scheduled projects, new projects, and emergency response – is running an annual $200 million shortfall and will be eliminated by 2028 without any additional revenue.
Without that budget, Roads staff has said, the county will have no budget for its work on more than 1,500 miles of road across the county, as well as the drainage pipes, guardrails, signs, and more alongside them.
South King County, like around Enumclaw and Black Diamond, contains 18% of the total miles of roads the county is responsible for, as well as nearly a quarter of all bridges, meaning a lack of maintenance in this area could easily affect how Plateau residents are able to commute if roads or bridges are damaged.
Approving the 0.1% sales tax would only mitigate the budget shortfall, as it’s projected to only bring in $100 million a year to soften the $200 million shortfall.
How much revenue cities will receive will also reduce how much funds will be available for Roads at the end of the day.
