Today King County Executive Girmay Zahilay transmitted a $394 million supplemental budget to the King County Council. This proposal will amend the 2026-2027 budget adopted in November.   

The package responds to urgent community needs and advances the administration's priorities including keeping residents safe, expanding access to affordable housing and critical services, strengthening county infrastructure, and building a more accountable and efficient county government.  

"Every dollar in this budget is a commitment to the people of King County,” said Executive Zahilay. “From keeping our communities safe during a historic World Cup, to making sure families have a roof over their head, to standing with our immigrant and refugee neighbors who deserve to live without fear, to delivering a government that is more present, more accountable, and more responsive than ever before. And we're doing all of this while being responsible stewards of public dollars." 

Highlights in the proposed budget include: 

• $164 million for King County Metro to start the process to purchase 115 hybrid electric buses to ensure delivery by 2028-2029.  

• $25 million for the King County Sheriff's Office and Office of Emergency Management to support public safety during FIFA World Cup 2026 matches hosted in the region, including additional staffing and multilingual public safety messaging campaigns.  

• $23 million to begin work on the future home of the Pioneer Square Clinic, which serves low-income residents with health care services that they may not be able to access elsewhere.  

• $13.2 million for communities affected by the flood emergency in December, including $11.7 million for emergency repairs for roads and bridges and $1.5 million to expand flood recovery programs for residents.   

• $6.5 million for critical, life safety capital projects at the King County Courthouse, the Chinook Building, the Maleng Regional Justice Center, and the King County Correctional Facility.   

• $5.4 million to continue implementing the County’s long-term hybrid workplace plans, including tenant improvements to underutilized office spaces. One-time savings is expected to offset initial costs for advancing hybrid work across departments.     

• $4.9 million to fund labor agreements for represented employees.   

• $2.7 million to add investigators, paralegals, legal assistants, and mitigation specialists in the Department of Public Defense to ensure clients receive high quality legal representation.  

• $2 million in resources for immigrant and refugee communities including legal, food, and rental assistance, fulfilling the commitment Executive Zahilay made in his February Executive Order directing county agencies to strengthen protections and expand emergency support for immigrant and refugee residents impacted by federal immigration enforcement.  

• $2 million in supplemental rental assistance for residents in need. 

The budget includes $101 million in reappropriations to carry committed, but unspent dollars from the 2025 budget to the current 2026-2027 budget for activities like:  

• $45 million for committed Veterans, Seniors, & Human Services Levy projects and programs including $23 million for a pending veteran’s housing purchase and an additional $22 million for affordable housing and home repair programs.  

• $5 million to add 60 units of permanent supportive housing at the Rainier Beach Family Empowerment Center as part of the Health through Housing initiative. 

This budget also operationalizes the reorganization of the Executive's Office as the first new administration in 16 years. This includes moving certain functions and roles into the county departments best positioned to carry out that work day-to-day, while retaining key functions within the Executive's Office.  

Finally, the proposed budget is consistent with the Better Governance and Financial Management Executive Order issued in early March by ensuring that all new full-time equivalent positions are revenue backed to include external funding options like grants or local government contracts.  

The King County Council will now take up the proposed budget for review and deliberation.