A housing unit at Santa Barbara County’s new Northern Branch Jail includes cells on two levels. Construction continues, with the ceiling still unfinished. 
Construction continues on Santa Barbara County’s Northern Branch Jail at the corner of Black and Betteravia roads west of Santa Maria. 
The inside of a cell at Santa Barbara County’s new Northern Branch Jail under construction west of Santa Maria. 
The Santa Barbara County preliminary budget projects property tax growth of 4.4 percent next year. 
The Santa Barbara County preliminary budget includes transient occupancy tax growth next year. 
The per-employee cost for Santa Barbara County has steadily increased. 
The Santa Barbara County preliminary budget shows increased maintenance funding.
For the first time since 2007, no Santa Barbara County departments are proposing reductions for their 2019-2020 budgets, according to county Executive Officer Mona Miyasato.
The county is looking at a surplus this year, and will reap the benefits of several long-term projects and funding initiatives, she said.
The Northern Branch Jail will start operating later this year near Santa Maria, at an estimated $18 million annual cost, and construction soon will start on the Tajiguas Resource Recovery Facility west of Goleta.
The county Board of Supervisors has been earmarking portions of revenue growth for deferred maintenance funding and the fire tax shift since 2014 and 2012, respectively, and both of those programs should hit target funding this year.
“This really is a huge milestone year for the county,” Miyasato noted.
In a briefing recently for Noozhawk, Miyasato and county budget director Jeff Frapwell broke down the county’s $1 billion budget ahead of upcoming Board of Supervisors workshops, where departments will make presentations and any requests for additional funding.
The supervisors will hear the staff’s recommended budget and make decisions in June for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, which starts July 1.
Scroll down for a schedule of the workshops, which include presentations starting at 9 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Santa Barbara Administration Building, 105 E. Anapamu St., in the fourth-floor hearing room. Remote testimony and public comment are available at the Joseph Centeno Betteravia Government Administration Building in Santa Maria at 511 E. Lakeside Parkway.
Since the county expects a surplus this year instead of reductions, there likely will be less conflict with funding decisions, Miyasato said.
Frapwell noted that the county plans to fully fund its strategic reserve to $36.4 million, which is about 8 percent of its ongoing revenues and would cover a month of operations.
Pension contributions actually will be lower than the previous year because of new cost-sharing agreements with employees, he said.
It’s $600,000 less, out of about $140 million, “but we’ll take it,” Frapwell added.
Pension costs accounted for less than 10 percent of payroll in 2000 and more than 39 percent of the payroll by 2010, according to the county.
In 2019-2020, the salary and benefit cost per full-time employee is projected to be $149,820.
The County Executive Office is projecting moderate revenue growth in the coming fiscal year, with transient occupancy taxes, or bed taxes, boosted by the San Ysidro Ranch reopening and the new Rosewood Miramar Beach hotel, both in Montecito.
California backfilled disaster-related property tax losses for 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. The county has requested more help for the coming year, but it’s not in the current version of the state budget, Frapwell said.
Montecito property-tax revenues are still down after the Thomas Fire and subsequent flash flooding and debris flows, but growth in other areas has boosted revenues and the county expects 4.4 percent growth next year.
Miyasato noted that county staff are “being cautious” by mentioning the possibility of a future recession and advise using one-time revenues for one-time uses, not ongoing programs.
Besides department-specific presentations, the workshops will include information on five “special issues,” including the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Laura’s Law pilot program; diversion efforts to keep mental health patients out of the jail system; county efforts to address homelessness; an update on the Northern Branch Jail operating fund; and library funding, since many branches face funding deficits.
Maintenance Funding and Major Capital Projects
Santa Barbara County has a “huge backlog” of deferred maintenance, at $438 million and counting, and major capital improvement projects are proposed to address aging infrastructure, including a courthouse roof replacement and Main Jail renovations.
The supervisors approved the 18 percent maintenance funding policy in 2014 to dedicate 18 percent of unallocated revenues to maintenance, to get to a target funding level to keep infrastructure from further deteriorating as a whole, Frapwell said.
That money, plus Senate Bill 1 funding, means the budget for next year is projected to hit that “green line” of target funding for the first time, he said.
Maintenance funding is split among departments, with 50 percent for roads, 35 percent for General Services, which manages facilities, and 15 percent for parks.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
Santa Barbara County 2019-20 Budget Workshop Schedule by Giana Magnoli on Scribd