Santa Barbara County staff recommend cutting $70 million in costs for next year’s budget, mostly by eliminating positions, reducing contracts and delaying capital projects.
Significant federal funding cuts are hitting social services and health departments. The county aims to maintain essential services while preparing for deficits that are projected to get worse before they get better.
The five-member Board of Supervisors will hold workshops on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to dig into the proposed $1.64-billion budget. Each department will present its spending plans and the board will hold special issue sessions on pension funding, jail expansion, AI use and cannabis revenues.
Feedback from these meetings will help form the recommended budget. Supervisors will adopt a budget in June for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The “balancing measures,” the preliminary budget’s code for funding cuts, include $30.8 million in reductions for Social Services. That includes unfunding 197 staff positions and eliminating some contracts and family resource center funding.
The largest impacts from these cuts include potentially slower responses for child welfare cases and CalFresh benefit application processing, according to the county.
Social Services announced in October that it was facing a $7.4-million shortfall in its budget and proposed layoffs, but the board instructed the department to work with the labor union to negotiate different cost-cutting measures.
The department announced in November the union agreed to delay raises, and the board eliminated 58 vacant positions.
Health Department cuts of $24.3 million include “rightsized clinic operations,” consolidating pharmacy operations and reducing 128.9 staff positions overall.
The service impacts could include longer patient wait times, patients having to fill prescriptions at outside pharmacies, and Animal Services being open to the public four days a week rather than six.
The Sheriff’s Office has $5 million in proposed cuts, which includes 30 positions covering services in Isla Vista as well as support staff across the department. This could impact response times and patrol coverage in Isla Vista and the South Coast, according to the county.
The administrative job losses would affect internal operations and collaborative efforts with other departments, according to budget documents.
Cutting four positions at the Public Defender’s Office would “exacerbate challenges in managing attorney caseloads, slowing the resolution of cases, particularly complex and severe cases,” according to that office.
Many of the departments facing potential cuts have submitted requests for additional funding, which will be considered during next week’s budget workshops.
Click here or scroll down to view the full list of proposed budget cuts for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
The overall preliminary budget of $1.64 billion represents a 2.9% spending cut compared to the current year’s adopted budget of $1.69 billion, mostly through eliminating 447.7 funded full-time equivalent employee positions.
It also reduces contracts, training, travel and overtime spending, “right-sizing operations for better efficiency,” and defers capital projects and equipment replacement, according to County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato.
This is Miyasato’s last budget process with the county before she retires in July.
During a five-year financial forecast in December, she said the county faces “daunting” deficits in the next few years, the largest she has seen since she joined the county in 2013.
“This year’s budget reflects difficult choices to ensure the county remains financially stable while continuing critical safety-net services,” Miyasato said in a statement this week ahead of the budget workshops.
She added: “Through responsible stewardship today, we are positioning the county to be more resilient and sustainable in the years ahead.”
Budget Director Paul Clementi said the budget has a two-year strategy to address deficits and preserve core services.
Watch the Budget Workshops
Monday’s workshop starts at 9 a.m. at the County Administration Building at 105 E. Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara. Additional workshops are scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. Friday.
The Budget Workshop Materials are available online here.
The schedule for the workshops, including breakdown by department, is available here.
Workshops can be attended in person or virtually via Zoom. Public comment will be available at the County Administration Building in Santa Barbara and the Joseph Centeno Betteravia Government Administration Building at 511 E. Lakeside Parkway in Santa Maria.
Each workshop will be streamed live on the county website, YouTube page and cable TV Channel 20.
Noozhawk staff writer Daniel Green contributed reporting to this story.
