Advice for our new King County Executive: Opportunities Abound

Shortly after the recent election, an editor at Post Alley asked if I’d be willing to draw on my experience as deputy county executive to share any advice for Girmay Zahilay, the newly elected county executive. I must admit, recognizing the 2025 election’s generational shift — out with the Boomers who created this mess and in with Millennials and Gen Z — caused me to ponder what useful advice could an old Boomer like me provide? But I took the bait.

First: Enjoy the ride. Despite all the challenges, King County is an amazing government filled with committed public servants doing extraordinarily important work in a region with great assets. Our large, diverse, and growing population tops 2.4 million and ranks us us bigger than 16 states. Our economy tops $389 billion, largest in Washington state and the Northwest, and exceeds those of more than 29 states.

So we have a lot to work with. Unfortunately, in addition to all those people and economic activity, King County also contains more governments than any reasonable person would expect — more than 140! The surfeit consists of federal and state agencies, a Port, 39 cities, 19 school districts, a library district, Metro Transit, two airport districts, water and sewer districts, a noxious weed district, and cemetery districts. Each has a tax base, a mission, and an elected or appointed board. Ideally these boards steward their public tax dollars. At their worst, these agencies steward their public tax dollars without regard to the other 140 public agencies. It’s a dis-integrated mess.

Working markets advantage business, who provide accountability to both business
and customers. This gives business organizations a powerful incentive for an organization that wants to survive, but markets only work for about half of our economy. Some technologies encourage monopolization (utilities for example); in other cases, communities decide to provide services for various un-harmonized reasons.

https://www.postalley.org/2025/11/14/advice-for-our-new-king-county-executive-opportunities-abound/