Santa Barbara County’s first day of budget workshops discussed deep cuts to health and social services, and how to continue meeting the community’s needs.

On Monday, the Board of Supervisors began hearing budget proposals for the next fiscal year from department heads. The county’s fiscal year begins on July 1, and the board will approve a new budget in June.

Mona Miyasato, the county executive officer, began the meeting by saying this week will be a time for “a clear-eyed discussion, tough decisions and our shared commitment to a sustainable future.”

Her staff has proposed a budget of $1.64 billion for next year, a 2.9% decrease from last year.

The county is facing an economic downturn and the prospect of a $23 million deficit for 2026-27.

Proposed budget documents include $70 million in cuts, with the brunt of them hitting the health and social services departments.

Social Services

The Department of Social Services proposed a budget of $224 million, which included eliminating dozens of employee positions.

Daniel Nielson, the department director, began his presentation by admitting that his department is facing structural issues that were made worse by federal funding reductions.

He said the department has already reduced its staff by 100 positions by leaving positions vacant as employees left. He added that the proposed budget covers 604 full-time employees, which is 30% less than the number of workers the department had last year.

Two areas the department asked the board to restore with funding were positions related to Protective Services and Economic Assistance and Employee Services.

The department was proposing to reduce its staff in Protective Services by 83 full-time positions, 79 of whom are currently filled. Nielson asked the board to approve funding to restore 47 of the positions.

Nielson proposed cutting 91 positions from Economic Assistance, which would include 82 filled positions. He also proposed to the board providing money to restore 78 employees for CalFresh.

He explained that cutting those services puts children at risk of child neglect and abuse. Access to the services lowers child abuse and neglect investigations by creating more stable households.

County Health

The County Health Department was also proposing cuts to its services in response to losing state and federal funds.

County Health proposed a $98.7 million budget for the next year, which could have an impact on the department’s ability to provide services. The department also reported a decrease of 123 staff positions since the last fiscal year.  

Mouhanad Hammami, the director of County Health, said the budget he was presenting was the result of hard decisions and trying to preserve services while putting patients first.

“While we do not make light of the challenges, nor of the magnitude of what we are facing,” Hammami said. “We look at this as an opportunity to realign, to refocus and maybe work smarter and be more efficient and innovative as well.”

Part of lowering costs for the department is reducing staffing levels throughout different departments, including health care centers, pharmacies, administration, public health and Animal Services.

The largest of the proposed staff reductions would be to the county’s health care centers, which would eliminate 97.5 positions. Hammami explained the reductions are due to changes in state and federal Medi-Cal reimbursements and eligibility.

Hammami said basic services would not be affected, but some specialty care services will end. He also confirmed to Supervisor Bob Nelson of the Fourth District that no health clinics will close.

“We are still providing the same level of primary care services across all of our health centers,” Hammami said.

Animal Services could lose four full-time employees, which could lower the hours of operations at three county animal shelters from six days to four days a week. Hammami requested that the board allow the department to restore two full-time employees to allow the shelters to continue operating six days a week.

He added that the centers may see a reduction in response times to service calls, but believes the impact will be small.

Budget workshops are scheduled to continue at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the County Administration Building, 105 E. Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara.

The budget workshop materials are available online here. 

The schedule for the workshops, including breakdown by department, is available here.