The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve 39 new positions for the Department of Social Services needed to help meet state and federal mandates.
The department will hire new staffers to help with programs that have expanded, such as CalFresh, formerly Food Stamps, and Medi-Cal, since the economic downturn.
Santa Barbara County must make the hires in order to remain in compliance with the state and federal mandates.
Almost all of the $1.5 million needed to fund the new positions for the next year will be provided by state and federal funds, and no new cost will be added to the county, according to Kathy Gallagher, DSS director.
Ongoing costs for the hires will also be provided by state and federal agencies.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.








