The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors may reconsider the size of the planned Northern Branch Jail expansion, and asked staff on Tuesday to return in April with the cost of building a smaller addition.
The discussion occurred as the supervisors considered awarding a $5 million construction management contract to STV Construction Inc. The board unanimously approved the contract and the request for the jail expansion report.
The board voted in April 2025 to add 348 beds, or 1½ pods, to the Northern Branch Jail near Santa Maria. The newly-built 376-bed jail opened in 2022.
The average daily population in 2024 averaged 343 people at the Northern Branch Jail and 403 people at the Main Jail near Santa Barbara.
Second District Supervisor Laura Capps expressed concern that voting to approve the contract would force the county to build 1½ pods. Capps previously supported going with a smaller expansion of 256 beds.
County staff confirmed that approving the contract would not lock in the size of the expansion, and the board could make changes to the designs later.
Capps said she still supports a smaller jail expansion and that data from the Community Corrections Partnership suggests the county could “do more with less.”
Capps serves on the Community Corrections Partnership’s board. The board is dedicated to reducing overcrowding in jails and diverting people to alternative programs.
“I do really think it’s important to get this right,” Capps said. “This price tag is quite high.”
The estimated cost of the 348-bed jail expansion is $167.3 million. The county plans to pay about $52 million from its general fund and use debt service to pay for the rest.
Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann asked that any report by county staff include the cost of a smaller expansion.
“I think, given our budget situation, there are a number of us on the board who also want an analysis of just one pod (256 beds),” Hartmann said.
County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato told the board that her staff was already preparing a presentation in April on reconstruction and operating costs of the Northwest Facility at the Main Jail in Santa Barbara.
Miyasato said her staff could include the price of adding one pod to the Northern Branch Jail and the cost of running both jails simultaneously.
The costs of operating two jail facilities has surpassed $90 million a year.
Miyasato said changing the design may delay the beginning of construction by a few months. However, a smaller expansion project could be faster to build and may not delay the construction schedule.
The county decided it would be more cost effective to add onto the newer North County facility than to completely remodel the aging South County jail, but it will renovate portions of it.
The board approved $6 million in January to renovate the Main Jail’s Inmate Reception Center. The work will add clinician spaces for health evaluations, bathrooms and interview spaces, and will make the space compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Members of the public also asked the board to consider reducing the size of the jail expansion.
During public comment, Primitiva Hernandez, executive director of 805UndocuFund, asked the board to reconsider the expansion because of the county’s lingering budget issues.
She asked the board to instead invest in programs that reduce the jail population.
Hernandez also asked the board to consider how federal and state funding cuts will affect the county’s budget in the future.
She added that the loss in funding will affect other programs that could help with food or housing.
“When we come back again, what is going to be the response? That there is no funding,” Hernandez said. “But there was funding for the jail.”