The four cities that contract with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services have reached a settlement in the dispute sparked by hefty increases in costs.
City councils in Buellton, Solvang and Goleta recently approved contract amendments with the Sheriff’s Office for the 2022-23 fiscal year after disputing steep raises for services.
The cities had protested the proposed rate hikes, with officials calling the new rates “not justified or sustainable.” They also contended that the Sheriff’s Office employed a revised cost methodology inconsistent with the terms of their contracts.
Sheriff’s deputies serve as the police force in all four cities.
“We entered into some dispute resolution procedures, went through a mediation and ultimately came to an agreement in which the cities will be paying more than they had anticipated but not as much as the sheriff had requested,” Solvang City Attorney Dave Fleishman told the City Council on Monday night.
Failed negotiations led to a mediation session in late June. While an agreement wasn’t reached at that time, the mediator proposed a settlement accepted by all sides, City Manager Scott Wolfe told his council.
In Solvang, the negotiated contract cost amounts to about $170,000 more than the costs for the prior year, but still $150,000 less than initially sought by the Sheriff’s Office.
That means that the Danish-themed city’s cost of law enforcement services increased from about $2.15 million in 2021-22 to $2.32 million in 2022-23.
For Buellton, the amended agreement reflects an increase of about 7.82%, for a total annual contract amount of $2,677,571. That’s higher than budgeted, so the council approved a budget adjustment of $67,373.
During Thursday’s meeting, Mayor Holly Sierra thanked Wolfe and City Attorney Greg Murphy for their months of work.
“Not quite what we wanted, but a lot better than we were given,” Sierra said.
Carpinteria’s 2022-23 contract cost for law enforcement services is $5,056,980, lower than the $5,277,977 initially sought by the Sheriff’s Office, City Manager Dave Durflinger said.
Goleta’s council approved an agreement for $9,499,341. That will lead to a budget savings of $259,786 since the city’s budget included the full amount sought by the Sheriff’s Office of $9.7 million.
The current contract spanned five years with provisions to update costs each year as appropriate leading to the dispute.
While the settlement resolved the dispute over law enforcement costs for 2022-23, negotiations will begin soon for a new pact to cover future fiscal years.
“We’re not sure what form that’s going to take,” Fleishman said.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.