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Sheriff, Local Officials Stand United in Supporting Sales Tax for New Jail
Backed by dozens of supporters lining the steps of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, Sheriff Bill Brown spoke Tuesday in favor of a new North County jail and the county sales tax measure — Measure S — that could help his vision become a reality.
For that to happen, voters would have to approve a November ballot measure for a half-cent sales tax. The proceeds from the tax not only would go toward jail construction, but also programs that target recidivism, and add front-line positions for fire and sheriff’s departments. The sales tax would coincide with the expiration of a legislated state sales tax. The measure would be implemented on July 1, and would represent a half-cent reduction from the current rate.
Judging by the impressive turnout of community leaders at Tuesday’s news conference, a solid number already have embraced Brown’s vision.
Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider kicked off the event, saying that enacting Measure S would increase public safety countywide. “It’s something that’s been needed for decades,” she said.
Schneider also highlighted the county’s diverse political landscape, one that she said has come together behind the new jail. That sentiment was confirmed by Santa Maria Mayor Larry Lavagnino.
“Santa Maria and Santa Barbara don’t always agree on everything,” Lavagnino said, “but we’re in agreement on Measure S.”
County Supervisors Janet Wolf and Joe Centeno also spoke out in support of the measure. Wolf said she traveled to Sacramento two years ago with Brown to request funding for a re-entry facility as well as a jail. The state approved the funding, and Wolf said now the county would be able to benefit from the $56 million grant from the state.
“If we do not pass Measure S this November, these funds may be lost,” Wolf said.
She said the county spends millions of dollars annually to expand the existing jail facilities, and Centeno highlighted the recidivism programs, as well as drug and alcohol treatment programs, that would come out of the funding.
“We really need to keep people out of jail, and this is the way to do it,” he said.
Brown was the last to speak Tuesday, and he touted everything from money the project would bring to the local construction industry to increased prisoner capacity.
“For more than three decades, Santa Barbara County has struggled with an overcrowded jail system,” said Brown, adding that throughout the jail’s history, much has been done to increase capacity, including adding on to existing jail facilities no less than seven times. “It’s simply not enough.”
Since 1986, the jail has been under a court-ordered population control, a fact Brown said has caused 1,700 to 1,800 inmates per year to be released early. About 80 percent of the criminals in the county jail are there for felony crimes.
“Unless a new jail is built, we will soon be forced into a position where we will only be able to house criminals for felony crimes,” he said. “This would pose a great danger to our community.”
As to the economics of the measure, $80 million in construction dollars would be spent in Santa Maria on the project, constituting what Brown called the largest public works project in county history.
Tuesday’s event was punctuated by yelling from community activist Kate Smith, who drove by the outdoor event twice, honking her horn and decrying supposed corruption in Santa Barbara County. Smith eventually was cited by Santa Barbara police officers for honking her horn repeatedly.
“It’s easy to be a critic; you saw one here earlier,” Brown said of Smith, adding that those with “extreme views” don’t want to see the measure passed. “I don’t believe they speak for the majority of people in this great county. Let’s collectively do something to solve the problems that jeopardize our safety.”
Perhaps not as organized as those in favor of the tax, opponents of the measure exist. Andy Caldwell of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture & Business, spoke against Measure S earlier Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting. He chided supervisors for not putting money aside for a jail when county coffers were “flush with cash” a few years ago. He said his group is on record for that proposition, but was met with less than receptive attitude on the board dais.
“We were met with deafening silence,” he said. “Why is it your priority that the taxpayers have to fund 100 percent of the effort?”
The public will have the opportunity to hear representatives of both sides of the issue make their points on Sept. 15, when the Committee to Improve North County will host a Measure S forum. Supporters Rich Glaus, retired Santa Barbara deputy police chief, and Rick Roney, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Jail Overcrowding, will be debating with Caldwell.
The meeting and luncheon will begin at 11:45 a.m. at the Santa Maria Inn, 801 S. Broadway Ave. The cost of the luncheon is $20. For more information, call the Committee INC office at 805.922.4881 or Committee INC president Hugh Rafferty at 805.937.9334.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Comments
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» on 09.07.10 @ 09:55 PM
We can pass measures to build jails and incarcerate people for petty crimes but we won’t maintain a reasonable cap on the number of children in a classroom. I will not vote for this “jobs” initiative!
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» on 09.07.10 @ 10:47 PM
I’m also voting “NO” until such time as there is serious pension reform in the public employee unions. The Sheriffs can all kick in some of their pension money to build the jail.
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» on 09.07.10 @ 10:57 PM
What a tax-payer scam—union wages is what they want. petty crime put a person in jail for drug use, and thats OK with you-
People!!! its a business to put drug users in jail for the unions, and it makes the drug user’s much tougher, more angry, more savage to servive jail when he comes out—is that really what you want??—wake up—
No more jails for petty crime..Treat them..
No more wasted taxes, fee’s and bonds—
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» on 09.07.10 @ 11:18 PM
Voice of Reason says: “The Sheriffs can all kick in some of their pension money to build the jail.”
But ... but ... but ... they can’t do that! That’s THEIR money! They need us to build the jail with OUR money!
I’m voting no on Measure S, as well as the two school measures Q and R. All three of these schemes are more evidence that public officials have no clue when it comes to spending taxpayer money. They just think that we’re all made of money. Guess what? We’re broke! And so is Santa Barbara County and the Santa Barbara School District! You run deficits EVERY year, you morons!!!
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» on 09.08.10 @ 07:52 AM
Outsource prisoners to a lower cost state. Why continue to line the pockets of the greediest of all unions - the prison guards?
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» on 09.08.10 @ 10:57 AM
Then it’s unanimous…Let’s tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend….
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» on 09.08.10 @ 11:43 AM
Note that Sheriff Brown stands against cannabis dispensaries, a source of business taxes to cities and counties, minimally, if not sales taxes (are medicines taxed, or are they tax-free, like food?). His position contributes to the prevalence of “criminal traffic” in marijuana which directly leads to jail overcrowding.
Meanwhile more and more local retailers are going out of business, while consumers are able to purchase goods sales-tax free on the internet. Which is actually illegal, but no one will enforce the law. Instead, they ask we who shop locally to accept another sales tax increase. How about just collecting taxes on online sales, even at 5 or 6%? How about making pot legal and sin-taxable? Imagine the revenues$$$!
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» on 09.08.10 @ 12:54 PM
Savings from SEIU union members by lowering exorbitant salaries, vacation days, health care, and retirement benefits could pay for the new jail and fund schools.
This taxpayer is fed up of feeding the corrupt democrat-union government of Santa Barbara.
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» on 09.08.10 @ 01:20 PM
I will certainly vote NO on S. But I will vote YES on the school bonds. While I do believe we should be able to pay for our schools out of existing revenue I can not agree to sacrifice the students until the union contracts are redone. I can however sacrifice the prisoners!
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» on 09.08.10 @ 05:07 PM
What the unions will not well you—The amount of higher taxes on us( again ) would give the unions double what they need.
Vote no—Make them cut their staff, wages and huge pensions.
They are civil servants making double what you make, and they work for you??—You pay them?
How about arresting and sending home all the illegals? That would open up many rooms in our Jail, or do what Arizona does Tent city cost .75 a day—not $50.000 a year per inmate.
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» on 09.09.10 @ 03:03 PM
The Prison Guard and Probation Officers’ Union is the most powerful in the state; politicians either support them and reap thousands in donations, or they are thrown out of office by mailers that use fear-mongering tactics. (Talk to Michael Jackson’s Attorney, Bob Sanger.)
As Andy Caldwell COLAB states, only half of this tax initiative goes to construct and operate the new jail, the rest goes into the Education-Politico-Industrial Complex (EPIC) and the School-to-Prison Pipeline (google it, fercrissakes) that incarcerates instead of educates the low-socio-economic youth—-blacks and Hispanics.
My license plate is VINDK8; I blew my horn to “sound out a warning: DANGER! Our democracy is in peril.” (Peter and Paul will perform tomorrow!)
I am a victim of severe retaliation against WHISTLEBLOWERS. I was illegally disqualified from the ballot and have been railroaded and steam-rolled with restraining orders twice.
Truth Will Out; Justice Prevails! Meet me in front of the SB Court House to blow the whistle on deep-seated and wide-spread corruption in Santa Barbara County!
This year, I’m running for the Santa Ynez High School Board of Education because the Voter Registrar, Joe Holland, and Bill Cirone and His Cronies insist it is my “schol district of residence.” Not! 3400 Gibraltar Road is the Old Sunburst, just past Climbing Rock and before Hanglider’s Skyport; it is the 3/4 mark of the Pier to Peak run. I’m ten minutes from Roosevelt Elementary and an hour-and-a-half from Santa Ynez High.
Only Noozhawk has covered the story of how I was maliciously persecuted by Santa Barbara County BureaucRat$ and EducRat$. Thank you, Bill MacFayden!
Truth goes through three stages: first it is ridiculed, next it is violently opposed, and then it is accepted as truth self-evident. (Gandhi)
Wake up, Santa Barbara! We’re the Perfect Storm of Injustice.
Namaste and Shana Tovah,
Kate Smith
aka k8longstory 4 sbschooltalk.com
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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» on 09.11.10 @ 09:26 AM
It is so good to see the outcry in the comments to this measure. Sheriff Brown is the dude who wants suicide barriers on Cold Spring Bridge, another government boondoggle. Here’s another resounding “NO” on this lame measure from a burned out over-taxed taxpayer.
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» on 09.11.10 @ 03:40 PM
If Kate Smith is AGAINST Measure S, that makes the most compelling argument that we should all be in FAVOR of Measure S.
Consider the “herstory” behind this woman.
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» on 09.11.10 @ 08:07 PM
“First, they ignore you, next they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then, you win!” —-Gandhi
Your ad hominem attack betrays you, “old timer;” you’re a county administrator, part of the Education-Politico-Industrial Complex.
EducRat$ and bureaucRat$ are threatened by my Speaking Truth to Power.
“I am not a threat to your lives; I’m a very real threat to your livelihood.”
“I am not a danger to anyone, unless it’s possible to talk a person to death, in which case, we’re all in trouble.”
LOL!
Namase and Shana Tova,
k8longstory
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» on 09.12.10 @ 07:14 PM
http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/sc...
Millions of public monies have already been spent on the New County Jail Project of Santa Maria. Just last SB Board of Supervisors meeting (September 7, 2010) there was an administrative calendar item, A-6 (no comment or discussion), that allocated $150,000. on top of almost $50,000 already paid, to a law firm in Santa Maria to negotiate a contract for the land where the new jail is to be built.
The next item on the agenda, A-7, (also not discussed), was the South Coast Gang Task Force. Millions in state, federal, and grant dollars are paid to county administrators, elected politicians, and non-profits to grease the School-to-Prison Pipeline. There are no programs involved to assist youth, no preventative measures or intervention services. BOS Chair Janet Wolf accidentally stated that fact at a GTF Leadership Council.
Money goes directly into the back pockets of those who are in the Education-Prison-Industrial Complex (EPIC); Rat King Bill Cirone and His Cronies are in charge of the operation. Politicians gets huge compaign contributions from unions and non-profits; retiring administrators and staff members get a hefty chunk of the public money so that their retirement benefits are increased. For example, SB City Administrator, Don Olson, got $40,000. per year from the Cal/GRIP grant.
I haven’t been able to look at ousted SB CEO Michael Brown’s portion, (I’m restrained from entering the administrative building) but I attended the Executive Council GTF meeting where Mike Brown made it clear that the county was going to have to be “cut in on the deal”—-and A-7 (SB BOS, September 7, 2010) is just that—-the shift of millions of public funds for creation of more county administrative positions, greasing the Pipeline, which incarcerates instead of educating black and Hispanics, destroying children and families.
This is the reason they got restraining orders against me. Every time I saw something on the agenda, I got up and spoke at the public podium. There was too much truth in my words; they had to shut me up.
Corporations control the Republican politicos and BureaucRats and the unions support the EducaRat$ and DemocRat$. Our democracy is in peril.
Many of the blogger comments to the Measure S online articles show that the electorate is quite savvy, and I doubt that Sheriff Brown will get a new jail any time soon.
There is a growing awareness of deep-seated and wide-spread corruption in Santa Barbara country.
Sincerely,
Kate Smith
aka k8longstory 4 sbschooltalk.com
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» on 09.12.10 @ 09:09 PM
Republicans-Indepedents& Democrats see through this tax and save Government unuon jobs—scam…Vote out Capps, Schneider, Das, Boxer,—All bad for us who have real jobs..
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» on 09.13.10 @ 07:08 AM
Brown had enough money to build a new jail and he burned it. The value of pot grows destroyed (legal medical marijuana) was $182 million. He was paid for burning it using tax dollars needed for education and crucial services to the community. He endangered users of the back country during the entire summer by waiting until the plants were mature and had maximum value before destroying them. He wasted additional tax dollars by waiting until they were large plants rather than one or two feet tall, making their removal much more expensive. He’s stated that trying to apprehend Mexican cartel growers by waiting for them to harvest the plants isn’t economically feasible. Wireless remote cameras with satellite uplink capability are cheap enough to be used in home security systems, as well as many other applications. Does economic feasibility mean that he wouldn’t be able to justify the cost of eradication next year and the next and the next and the next if the growers were followed to their cartel bosses and arrested? Eradication is more expensive each year since Brown’s wast of tax dollars accomplishes nothing and the number of grows increases annually,
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» on 09.14.10 @ 11:12 AM
It’s not a tax or revenue problem, IT’S A SPENDING PROBLEM!!!!
Stop the over-spending!
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» on 09.14.10 @ 01:45 PM
i usually agree with many of you. As a former pot smoker, smuggler and distributor and paid for it for years, you cannot possibly believe that legalizing it does any good?! You cannot deny that it is a gateway drug…it is! It will get to a younger age. It will mean more impaired on our roads. it will come to lazy people with no motivation who will have to eventually get on welfare, because they are too stoned to get a job or work hard. let’s leave marijuana as is and stop trying to legalize it!
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» on 09.15.10 @ 07:25 AM
Democrats will sell anything that gets your hard earned money.
Democrats are the party of high taxes, big government, illegal aliens, Welfare, food stamps, section 8, and High paying government union jobs. The rest of us who pay for all this Gov waste need to get out and vote..
Boston tax party coming soon..
The party of entitlement..Change today—wake up-
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» on 09.17.10 @ 04:10 PM
PLEASE VOTE FOR THE PASSAGE OF MEASURE S
It is fine to complain about the legitimate failures of the board of supervisors. However, no one that complains offers realistic solutions.
We cannot change the wages, benefits, and pensions of county employees who are already receiving them.
Placing inmates in tents is not a realistic solution. Joe the Sheriff in Arizona has low-level misdemeanors in his public relations stunt. In California we do not even put people in jail for the violations they incarcerate people for in Arizona.
Sheriff Brown is to be commended for the work he and others have given to a SOLUTION to our problem of jail overcrowding.
He is also to be praised for being enlightened to the fact that we must wisely spend additional funds for police, fire, and programs. It is not enough to just build a jail. We must also stop the revolving door of county residents who re-offend.
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» on 09.17.10 @ 04:24 PM
Oh yes we can lower the current union wages now—You work for the people. The private sector took huge cuts, and government should also..We the people control your wages-Not the corrupt unions—50% cut would be a great start..
Boston tax party coming soon, if unions dont cut all current wages and pensions going out—Look at the other unionized socialist countries—all going bankrupt..
Let the sleezy union lawyers sue the tax-payer for its outrageous pay and pensions—tax revolt ( Boycott ) will follow.
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